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I WILL 
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Other Books of the Same Series 

Profusely Illustrated, 96 and 128 pages, with 
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Sales of this series to date, nearly 8,500,000 copies 

Battle of the Churches 

Bible Made Plain 

Christ the Divine One 

Christian Sabbath 

Christian Science X-Rayed 

Christianity at the Crossroads 

Coming Man of Destiny 

Contagious Diseases 

Epidemics: How to Meet Them 

Facing the Crisis 

Freedom, Civil and Religious 

Great Judgment Day 

Heralds of the King 

Marked Bible 

Ml Ingle Comes Through 

On the Eve of Armageddon 

Other Side of Death 

Our Lord's Return 

Our Paradise Home 

Predicament of Evolution 

Satan: His Origin, Work, and Destiny ^ 

Socialism Exposed 

Spiritualism versus Christianity 

Steps to Christ 

Twelve Great Signs 

Two Great Prophecies 

What Is Coming? 

World's Destiny 

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Twelve Great Signs 




THE FAITHFUL STEWARD 



'"' Blessed are those servants, whom 
the Lord when He cometh shall 
find watching." Luke 12:37. 



Twelve Great Signs 

of the 

Return of Jesus 



An Exposition of the Bible Predictions Relating to " The 
Time of the End," with Special Reference to the 
Evidences Demonstrating the Imminence of the 
Second Coming of Onr Lord, and an Ex- 
planation of the Fulfilment of These 
Divine Prophecies in Present-day 
Developments, and the Condi- 
tions Which Now Prevail 
in the World and 
in the Church 



m 



By Carlyle B. Haynes 

Author of " Our Lord's Return," " The Other Side of Death," " The 

Christian Sabbath," " What Is Coming? " " Spiritualism Versus 

Christianity," "Satan; His Origin, Work, and Destiny," "On 

the Eve of Armageddon," and " Christianity at the 

Crossroads." 



REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING ASSOCIATION 
Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. 

Peekskill, N. Y. : Oshawa, Ontario. Canada : South Bend, Ind. ; 
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. 

Printed in the U. S. A. 




THE ROCK OF OUR 
SALVATION 



" They drank of that spiritual Rock 
that followed them : and that Rock 
was Christ." 1 Cor. 10: 4. 



Rock of Ages 



ROCK of Ages, cleft for me! 

Let me hide myself in Thee; 

Let the water and the blood, 

From Thy wounded side that flowed, 

Be of sin the perfect cure; 

Save me, Lord, and make me pure.- 

Should my tears forever flow, 
Should my zeal no languor know, 
This, for sin, could not atone; 
Thou must save, and Thou alone. 
In my hand no price I bring; 
Simply to Thy cross I cling. 

When my pilgrimage I close, 
Victor o'er the last of foes; 
When I soar to worlds unknown, 
See Thee on Thy judgment throne, — 
Rock of Ages, cleft for me, 
Let me hide myself in Thee. 

M 14-25 ~ Topladv - 

©C1A820034 

•VyO I 



r&T88S 

■•H35 CONTENTS 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 7 

The Increase of Knowledge - 21 

Unparalleled Running To and Fro 33 

The Dark Day 41 

The Falling of the Stars ----- 49 

Wars and Rumors of Wars ... - 55 

Restlessness, Lawlessness, and Abounding Iniquity 65 

Pestilences, Earthquakes, and Storms by Land and 

Sea _ - - . . . . . 75 

Capital and Labor - - - - - -81 

Distress of Nations, with Perplexity - - 84 

Spiritualism - 91 

The Prevailing Unbelief in the Church - - 98 

The Gospel to All Nations - - - - - 107 

Awaiting the Blessed Hope and His Glorious 

Appearing - - - - - - 117 



Copyright, 1925 

Review and Herald Publishing Association 

Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. 




X 



jjl I 



;*% 




THE ASCENSION OF 
CHRIST 



" This same Jesus, which is taken up from you 
into heaven, shall so come in like manner as 
ye have seen Him go into heaven." Acts 1:11. 




BETHLEHEM 



" Ye can discern the face of the sky ; but can ye not 
discern the signs of the times?" Matt. 16:3. 



CHRIST IS COMING THE SECOND TIME 



Jesus is coming again. He came to earth nineteen cen- 
turies ago, and after a sojourn of thirty-three years He 
returned to heaven, where He has been ever since. 

But He is coming the second time. He is coming to finish 
the work He began on His former visit, — the great work of 
human redemption. 

Some nineteen hundred years ago, when " the fulness of 
the time was come" (Gal. 4:4), Jesus our Lord appeared, 
and by His life, His ministry, His death, and His resur- 
rection provided the groundwork of human redemption. 
Having paid the price of human redemption, He was exalted 
to the right hand of God in heaven, " to give repentance " 
and the " forgiveness of sins." Acts 5 : 31. 

During all the time since then, He has, by His priestly 
intercession, ministration, and mediation, been applying this 
redemption to human beings, transforming lives, bringing lost 



8 Twelve Great Signs 

souls to a rebirth, and thus preparing those who receive Hiin 
as Lord and Saviour to become subjects of the eternal king- 
dom over which He is to reign as King. 

And He is coming again to receive these subjects to Him- 
self, to establish His everlasting kingdom, and to reign over 
it as King forever. His first coming w r as the sowing of the 
seed; His second coming is the reaping of the harvest. 

When He was here nineteen centuries ago, He spoke of 
His second coming. He said He would come again. He 
admonished His disciples to be prepared for His return, He 
instructed them regarding the time of His return, He com- 
missioned them to preach the message of His second com- 
ing, and He encouraged them to look to that event as the 
consummation of all their hopes. 

" I Will Come Again " 

In that wonderfully tender, comforting talk with His 
disciples just before His crucifixion, when He admonished 
them, " Let not your heart be troubled," and pointed them 
to His Father's house and the many mansions there, Jesus 
said, " I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and 
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you 
unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." John 
14 : 1-3. 

In Matthew 25 : 31 He speaks of the time when " the Son 
of man shall come in His glory." And in Matthew 26 : 64, 
after the high priest at His trial had angrily commanded 
Him to say whether He was the Christ, He replied, " Thou 
hast said : nevertheless I say unto you, Hereafter shall ye 
see the Son of man sitting on the right hand of power, and 
coming in the clouds of heaven." 

And again in Luke 21 : 25-27, after foretelling signs of 
His return, He said, " Then shall they see the Son of man 
coming in a cloud with power and great glory." 

Not content with these plain statements, our Saviour re- 
iterated the fact and certainty of His return in the parables 
He gave. In the parable of the talents, in Matthew 25 : 14-30, 
the going away of the Saviour to heaven is indicated by the 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 9 

man who took his journey into a far country; and the words, 
" After a long time the lord of those servants cometh, and 
reckoneth with them/' teach the long absence of Jesus from 
the earth, and His ultimate return to reckon with His serv- 
ants at the day of judgment. Then again, His return is 
indicated in the parable of the pounds, in Luke 19 : 11-27. 
Here the Lord said : " A certain nobleman went into a far 
country to receive for himself a kingdom, and to return. 
And he called his ten servants, and delivered them ten 
pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come." The noble- 
man, representing Jesus, was not only going away, but he 
intended to return. His servants were to have continually 
in their minds the thought that it was not his purpose to 
remain away always, but that at some future time he would 
again appear. The charge given them was, " Occupy till I 
come." 

" He Shall Appear the Second Time " 

After Jesus had completed His earthly ministry and had 
gone back to heaven, His apostles constantly set forth the 
fact and certainty of His return the second time to this 
earth. Paul writes to the Philippians (3:20), " Our con- 
versation is in heaven, from whence also we look for the 
Saviour." He writes to the Colossians (3:4), " When Christ, 
who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye also appear with 
Him in glory." To the Hebrews (9:27, 28) he wrote, " As 
it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judg- 
ment : so Christ was once offered to bear the sins of many : 
and unto them that look for Him shall He appear the second 
time without sin unto salvation." And again (10:36, 37), 
"Ye have need of patience, that, after ye have done the will 
of God, ye might receive the promise. For yet a little while, 
and He that shall come will come, and will not tarry." Here 
Paul is so positive of the return of the Lord the " second 
time " that he speaks of Him as " He that shall come," and 
says of Him most positively that He " will come." 

Peter, too, emphasizes the second coming of our Lord. 
He speaks of the scoffers of the last days who mockingly in- 
quire, " Where is the promise of His coming?" These scof- 




THE GOOD SHEPHERD 

10 



Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes 
shall behold, and not another." Job 19:27. 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 11 

fers in their blind unbelief and willing ignorance are able 
to see no signs of His return, yet Peter assures his readers 
that " the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night." 
2 Peter 3 : 4, 10. 

John, the beloved disciple, also writes often of his Lord's 
return. " Now, little children, abide in Him ; that, when He 
shall appear, we may have confidence, and not be ashamed 
before Him at His coming." 1 John 2 : 28. John is shown 
the return of the Lord in a vision, and cries out, " Behold, 
He cometh with clouds, and every eye shall see Him, and 
they also which pierced Him." Rev. 1 : 7. Again John rep- 
resents Jesus as speaking to him, and saying, " Behold, I 
come quickly." Rev. 22 : 12. 

Truly, Jesus is to return. The Bible so teaches. The 
certainty of His return is well established. There is, there 
can be, no doubt about it, for His word cannot fail. 

The" Purpose of His Return 

The Bible not only sets forth the certainty of Christ's 
return, but it makes plain the purpose of it. Men may do 
things aimlessly and without purpose; God does not. The 
second coming of His Son has definite objectives, as did His 
first coming. 

He is coming to raise the dead. Those who have died are 

to be made alive. Those who sleep in their graves are to be 

awakened. Those who have fallen down in death are to be 

raised up. 

" Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in the which all that 
are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that 
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done 
evil, unto the resurrection of damnation." John 5: 28, 29. 

Myriads of the faithful people of God are cold in death. 

One object of Christ's second coming is that He may raise 

the blessed dead. They are to be raised at His coming. 

" As in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive. But 
every man in his own order: Christ the first fruits; afterward they that 
are Christ's at His coming." 1 Cor. 15: 22, 23. 

" The Lord Himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in 
Christ shall rise first." 1 Thess. 4: 16, 



12 



Twelve Great Signs 



" At that time shall Michael stand up, the great Prince which stand- 
eth for the children of thy people: and there shall be a time of trouble, 
such as never was since there was a nation even to that same time : and 
at that time thy people shall be delivered, every one that shall be found 
written in the book. And many of them that sleep in the dust of the 
earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and ever- 
lasting contempt." Dan. 12 : 1, 2. 

So it is when " the Lord cometh out of His place to pun- 
ish the inhabitants of the earth for their iniquity/' that the 




JESUS RAISING THE SON OF 
THE WIDOW OF NAIN 



The hour is coming, in the which all that 
are in the graves shall hear His voice, and 
shall come forth." John 5:28, 29. 



earth " shall disclose her blood, and shall no more cover her 
slain." Isa. 26 : 21. It is when the trumpet shall sound at 
the coming of Jesus that the dead saints are to be raised 
incorruptible, and the living saints shall be " changed, in a 
moment, in the twinkling of an eye," and be made immor- 
tal. 1 Cor. 15 : 51-54. 

To Judge the World 
When Jesus returns, it will be to judge the world. There 
is to be a judgment. The Bible makes that plain. 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 



13 



" The Lord will judge His people." Ps. 135 : 14. 

" God shall judge the righteous and the wicked." Eccl. 3 : 17. 

" God shall bring very work into judgment." Eccl. 12 : 14. 

" We must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ," 2 
Cor. 5: 10. 

4k Every one of us shall give account of himself to God." Kom. 14: 12. 

" The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, and 
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished." 2 
Peter 2: 9. 

The time of judgment will be when Jesus comes. To sit 

as Judge on the throne of eternal justice is one of the ob- 




THE LAST JUDGMENT 



' ; Before Kim shall be gathered aii na- 
tions ; and He shall separate them one 
from another." Matt. 25:32. 



jects of His return. God " hath appointed a day, in the 
which He will judge the world." Acts 17 : 31. " The word 
that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day." 
John 12 : 48. This " last day " is when . Jesus comes. At 
that time the world will be judged. Then it shall be known 
whether or not our lives have been lived in vain. 

Of Christ's second coming it is said : 

"He cometh to judge the earth." Ps. 96: 13. 

" Our God shall come, and shall not keep silence. ... He shall call 
to the heavens from above, and to the earth, that He may judge His 
people." Ps. 50: 3, 4. 



14 Twelve Great Signs 

He " shall judge the quick and the dead at His appearing and His 
kingdom." 2 Tim. 4:1. 

To Give Rewards 

Then, too, when Jesus comes, it will be to give rewards. 
" Behold, I come quickly ; and My reward is with Me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be." Rev. 22 : 12. It 
is then that the righteous are to be rewarded for their faith- 
fulness. It is then He will make up His jewels. He will send 
forth His angels, and they shall gather together His elect. 
Crowns will be placed on worthy brows, the redeemed will be 
arrayed in white, made immortal, and will joyfully enter 
upon their happy existence in God's kingdom, where nothing 
will ever come to molest, to mar, or to cause unhappiness. 
The trial of their faith is to " be found unto praise and honor 
and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ." 1 Peter 1 : 7. 
It is when the Chief Shepherd shall appear that His people 
are to receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 

To Redeem the Earth 

And, lastly, when Jesus comes, it will be to redeem the 

earth. Not only the race, but the earth itself has been lost 

and is under a curse. God gave it to man at the beginning. 

Man sold himself and his dominion of the earth to Satan. 

The earth was subjected to the curse, under which it still 

groans and travails. It is out of order, torn, tossed, and 

racked like a sick man. A great malady is upon it. But 

harmony and beauty are yet to be restored. The second 

Adam will completely obliterate the works of the first Adam. 

Christ has purchased the earth. We are now waiting for 

the " redemption of the purchased possession." Eph. 1 : 14. 

When Jesus comes the second time, He will bring the earth 

back to its former beauty. It will then shine with more 

than its original glory. For when He comes, then shall take 

place the " restitution of all things . . . spoken by the mouth 

of all His holy prophets." (See Acts 3:20, 21.) 

"We, according to His promise, look for new heavens and a new 
earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness." 2 Peter 3 : 13. " The meek shall 
inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of 
peace." "The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for- 
ever," Ps. 37 : 11, 29. 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 15 

And in order to fit it for the dwelling-place of His peo- 
ple, the Redeemer will redeem it when He comes again. 

The Manner of His Return 

The Bible not only makes plain the certainty of Christ's 
return and the purpose thereof, but also sets forth the man- 
ner of His coming. His reappearance will be no secret, hid- 
den manifestation. When He comes, He will come in person. 
He will come literally > He wall come visibly > He will come 
in the open sight of all the world, He will come accompanied 
by a demonstration of glory and power never before wit- 
nessed on earth. 

God poured out His Spirit on the day of Pentecost in a 
wonderful w r ay; but that was not the return of our Lord. 
From that first outpouring until now r the Spirit has been 
with true believers; but this is not the second coming of 
Christ. Jesus has been with His church for these nineteen 
centuries to aid, to comfort, and to bless, in fulfilment of His 
gracious promise, " Lo, I am with you alway ; " but this is 
not His oft-predicted return. 

The same Jesus who was crucified; the same Jesus who 
was literally raised from the dead; the same Jesus who said, 
" Handle Me, and see ; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, 
as ye see Me have" (Luke 24:39) ; the same Jesus w r ho, in 
the clear sight of His assembled disciples, was taken bodily 
up into heaven and received into a cloud, — this same Jesus 
is to return to earth in the sight of all its inhabitants, and 
in the same bodily form in which He went away. 

When He departed, two angels came and said to His dis- 
ciples, standing on Olivet, " This same Jesus, w 7 hich is taken 
up from you into heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye 
have seen Him go into heaven" Acts 1:11. And Paul, 
with equal force and positiveness, says, " The Lord Himself 
shall descend from heaven." 1 Thess. 4 : 16. Not a spirit, 
but " this same Jesus;" not a dispensation of Providence, 
but " the Lord Himself." 

Revealed in Flaming Fire 

The whole heavens will flash with the aw T ful splendor of 
our Lord's divine presence. " He shall come in His own 



16 Twelve Great Signs 

glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels." Luke 
9 : 26. " The Lord Jesns shall be revealed from heaven . . . 
in flaming fire." 2 Thess. 1:7, 8. When He came before, 
He was a weak babe in Bethlehem's manger; now He will 
be an all-conquering King. Before He was " despised and 
rejected of men;" now His lightnings will enlighten the 
world, and all the earth shall see and tremble. Before He 
was a sacrifice, and died on Calvary; now He comes as a 
Judge sitting upon " a great white throne." Before His 
enemies crowned Him with thorns ; now there will be on His 
head " many crowns," and His friends will " bring forth 
the royal diadem, and crown Him Lord of all." Before He 
came in humility and weakness; now He comes in radiant 
glory exceeding the brightness of the sun, and in the full 
exercise of all power in heaven and earth. 

Down the pathway of the glory-gilded skies the Lord of 
glory will come, the keys of death and the grave hanging at 
His side, His head crowned with a halo before which the 
sun pales, His flowing robes more beautiful than the rain- 
bow. He has gathered the finest clouds of the universe about 
Him, and with other clouds composed of myriads and myr- 
iads of angels, the immortal Conqueror, the eternal King, 
comes to receive to Himself His own. In a manner entirely 
befitting Him as Creator, Redeemer, Prophet, Priest, and 
King, He will be accompanied by a splendid retinue of shin- 
ing seraphim. These brilliant bands will fill the glory- 
flashing firmament. How magnificent will be the advancing 
pageantry of the skies ! How sublime will be the Lord Jesus 
when He " shall be revealed from heaven with His mighty 
angels " ! 2 Thess. 1:7. 

Suddenly and Unexpectedly 

He will come suddenly and unexpectedly. " In such an 
hour as ye think not the Son of man cometh." Matt. 24 : 44. 
When the wicked world is dreaming of pleasure; when the 
people are all unready ; when the false cry of " Peace " is 
sounding over the earth, He will come. As the blinding 
glare of lightning from the heavens, so Jesus will come. 
Matt. 24 : 27. 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 17 

" Behold," said our Lord, " I come quickly. " 

" Not slowly, slowly, like twilight, 

Nor like the cold, creeping tide, 
Or bark, from its distant offing, 

Moving on o'er the waters wide ; 
But instant! like sudden lightning 

In the depths of a tranquil sky, 
From west to east, in a moment 

The havoc descends from on high. 

" The day of the Lord it cometh 
When the virgins are all asleep, 
And the drunken world is lying 
In a slumber yet more deep; 
Like the sudden lurch of a vessel. 

By night, on a sunken rock, 
All earth in a moment reeleth, 
And goeth down with a shock." 

— Bonar. 

He Is Coming Quickly 

Christ is not only coming sometime. That is true, as has 
been plainly shown. But that is not all the truth. He is 
coming soon. He is coming quickly. He is at the door. ' His 
foot is on the threshold, His hand on the latch. Soon, and 
suddenly, He will come. Decades will not become centuries, 
and the centuries run on into millenniums, before we wit- 
ness the fearful scenes of the end. But quickly, quickly, Jesus 
will come; speedily, speedily, He will return; soon, soon, He 
will be here, while men and women are putting far off the evil 
day, while they are trying to think it cannot come in their 
lifetime — suddenly, oh, how suddenly, a chrnge will come 
over the spirit of their dream, and they be awakened by the 
very voice of the Son of God as it rolls through the earth, 
speaking life to the righteous dead, but bringing terror and 
despair to those who are living in their sins. 

He Gave Signs 

Jesus, when on earth, not only said He would return, but 
explained how His people might know the time of His return. 
He foretold the conditions which would prevail just before 
His second coming; He gave signs which, when they should 
occur, were to be understood as harbingers of the coming of 
2 




THE UNIVERSAL INVITATION 



18 



The Spirit and the bride say, Come. . . * 
And whosoever will, let him take the water 
of life freely." Rev. 22 : 17. 



Christ Is Coming the Second Time 19 

the end of all things earthly. He told His people to watch. 

He gave evidences of the nearing of His coming. And then 

He said: 

" Now learn a parable of the fig tree : When his branch is yet tender, 
and putteth forth leaves, ye know that summer is nigh: so likewise ye, 
when ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at the 
doors." Matt, 24: 32, 33, margin. 

Indeed, all through the Word of God there is set forth in 
the predictions of prophets and apostles the condition of the 
world and its various activities at the time of the ending of 
earthly affairs. And the condition of the world now betokens 
that the end is near. The fulfilment of these divinely in- 
spired prophecies gives reason, as never before, to expect 
the immediate coming of our long-absent Lord. 

Surely we may know when harvest time has come by 
noting the condition of the ripening crops. When the full 
ears of grain hang ripe, the skilled husbandman does not 
wait long to gather them. None of us by ourselves could 
know what constitutes a ripeness for the eternal harvest, but 
this God Himself has revealed. The Lord has shown in His 
Word what is to be the condition of the world just preced- 
ing the time when He is to return. The crop of humanity 
and of human guilt has been a long time ripening. It is at 
last where the heavenly Husbandman will delay no longer. 

There are evidences all about us, significant evidences, 
showing that we are truly nearing time's end. We see them 
in the abounding wickedness; in the coldness and lukewarm- 
ness of a formal, lifeless church; in the vast, warlike prepa- 
rations of the nations ; in the alarming increase of crime and 
lawlessness ; in the strange phenomena in the heavens ; in the 
fateful crash of the earthquake's shock; in the unparalleled 
development of human knowledge ; in the growth of false re- 
ligions; and in the steady advance of " this gospel of the 
kingdom " into all the earth. 

Twelve of the great signs of the return of our Lord are 
set forth in the following pages. To a candid, careful study 
of these, and their present significance, we earnestly invite 
the reader. 




THE BIBLE THE SOURCE OF KNOWLEDGE 




HOME OF THE BRITISH AND FOREIGN BIBLE SOCIETY, LONDON 
20 




ROTUNDA OF THE UNIVERSITY OF VIRGINIA 



THE FIRST SIGN — THE INCREASE OF 

KNOWLEDGE 

There is no period of human history comparable to the 
present. Our day is different from every other age of which 
we have heard or read. All the faculties of the human mind 
have been sharpened and developed to an astonishing degree 
during very recent years. . 

The age in which we live is unique, wonderful. Other 
ages have equaled it in courage, in feats of valor, in human 
prowess; but no age can be compared to it in knowledge, 
invention, transportation, and dissemination of knowledge. 

One Hundred Years Ago 

Go back a hundred years. We scarcely know how to live. 
All the comforts and conveniences to which we are so ac- 
customed are gone. There is no telephone or telegraph, and 
even mail delivery is slow and uncertain. There are no 
electric cars, no subways, no elevated trains, few steamboats, 
no aeroplanes, not even a cable car, in fact not a horse car, 

21 



22 Twelve Great Signs 

and the buggy is the very latest and most up-to-date method 
of rapid transportation. 

There are no electric lights, not even a kerosene lamp. 
It is the old tallow candle we depend on for light. And we 
do not need much light, for it is the custom of most people 
to go to bed soon after the sun goes down. 

There are no phonographs in the homes, and radio broad- 
casting is unthought of. 

There is no sewing machine, no reaper, no thresher, no 
modern farm machinery, no electric sweeper, no electric iron. 
Housework and farmwork are done by laborious primitive 
methods. 

There are no India-rubber goods. Such conveniences are 
far in the future. 

There are no photographs, no photo-engravings, no cam- 
eras, no rotogravure sections of the papers. In fact, there 
are no newspapers as we know them. Such a thing as the 
wonderful octuple web perfecting printing press, which 
prints, pastes, cuts, folds, and counts newspapers at the rate 
of 96,000 per hour, or 1,600 per minute, is not dreamed of. 

There is no planing and woodworking machinery, and 
therefore none of the endless variety of sashes, doors, blinds, 
and furniture now common. 

There are no gas engines, no elevators, no asphalt pave- 
ments or streets, no steam fire engines. 

Celluloid articles are unknown. So also are time locks 
for safes, barbed-wire fences, self -binding harvesters, oil and 
gas wells, ice machines and cold storage. 

There are no stem-winding watches, cash registers, or cash 
carriers. 

There are no iron or steel frame buildings, no iron-clad 
ships, no revolvers, no magazine guns. 

There are no linotype or monotype machines, no type- 
writers, dynamo-electric machines, electric locomotives, or 
electric plating. 

There is no Pasteurizing or knowledge of its need. There 
is no knowledge of microbes or disease germs, no sanitary 
plumbing, and no use of anesthetics in surgery. 



The Increase of Knowledge 23 

There are no soda-water fountains, coal-tar dyes and med- 
icines, no artificial limbs and eyes, no spectroscope. 

There is no nitroglycerin, dynamite, or guncotton. 

There are no electric fire alarms, Artesian wells, or steam 
hammers; no hydraulic dredges, electric-storage batteries, or 
tin-can machines; no air brakes, Bessemer steel, or ocean 
cables; no enameled ironware, Welsbach gas burners, or gas 
ranges; no roller mills, patent-process flour, or prepared 
foods; no shoe machines, circular knitting machines, or Jac- 
quard looms ; no patent car couplings, sleeping-cars, or street 
sweepers; no moving pictures, acetylene gas, or X-ray appa- 
ratus; no automobiles, locomotives, or bicycles. 

I wonder whether we would know how to live in such a 
world as that ! 

The Marvels of Our Time 

The wonders and marvels of our age are so common to 
us that we seldom stop to consider how recently these things 
have all come into use. It seems almost as if the human 
race had been in a sleep for nearly sixty centuries, and then 
a little more than a century ago had been awakened to in- 
tense activity. In the realm of science and invention, human 
ingenuity has done more during the last century than in all 
the centuries which went before. . 

Nearly all the great inventions have come within the 
memory of living men, and so many of them have been pro- 
duced that we of this age have ceased to exclaim and wonder, 
and our attitude is one which leads us to expect anything at 
all and be surprised at nothing. This has not long been true, 
however. Our fathers and grandfathers, some of them, be- 
lieved in their days that human progress had reached its 
limit. An interesting illustration of this is given in the 
Scientific American of Oct. 16, 1915 : 



r. 



" Some one poring over the old files in the United States Patent Office 
at Washington the other day, found a letter written in 1833 that illus- 
trates the limitations of the human imagination. 

" It was from an old employee of the Patent Office, offering his res- 
ignation to the head of the department. His reason was that as every- 
thing inventable had been invented, the Patent Office would soon be dis- 
continued, and there would be no further need of his services, or the 




Courtesy, American Telephone and Telegraph Co. 

WIRELESS PHOTOGRAPH OF PRESIDENT AND MRS. COOLIDGE 
CLEVELAND TO NEW YORK, MAY 19, 1924 




Courtesy, American Telephone and Telegraph Co. 
WIRELESS PHOTOGRAPH OF HIGH LEVEL BRIDGE, CLEVELAND, OHIO 

24 



The Increase of Knowledge 25 

services of any of his fellow clerks. He, therefore, decided to leave 
before the blow fell." 

9 

The World Just One Tenth of a Second Wide 

Chief among the amazing developments of the present is 
radio broadcasting. Millions of people now sit at home with 
head phones on, or before loud speakers, and twirl little 
black dials in order to mine the air for something worth 
while, as men mine the earth for precious metals. Twenty 
million people in America can sit quietly in their homes and 
hear the audible voice of one man. 

Allan L. Benson, writing in Hearst's Magazine, July, 
1922, says : 

" We may now mine the air as our forefathers mined the earth, find- 
ing one thing at one level, and another thing at another. 

" You set your radio instrument for a certain wave length, and hear 
a comic quartet a thousand miles away. You want opera, and feel 
bored as did your ancestors when they mined for gold and struck gravel. 

" You adjust for another wave length, and hear a gentleman per- 
haps 1,500 miles away, talking about ' Civic Consciousness/ or reading 
late news dispatches or stock market reports. 

" That makes you feel worse than your gold-mining ancestor felt 
when he went from gravel to slate, and again you change your adjust- 
ment. Behold the miracle! You have sunk your shaft into a ledge of 
grand opera. There is no mistaking the liquid notes. You relax and 
listen." 

And speaking of the possibilities of this wonderful in- 
vention, French Strother, in World's Work for April, 1922, 
writes : 

" This world is now just one tenth of a second wide. Wireless has 
done it. Man has touched the ether waves with the perturbations of his 
restless spirit, and within the winking of an eye, by man-made recep- 
tive nerves, at the antipodes his brothers hear his speech. At last the 
world is one chamber, where no man, however remote in the flesh from 
other men, is beyond the sound of the voices of his fellows. If the 
inventions of present daily use had been in existence in their time, Rob- 
inson Crusoe on his lonely island, Columbus in his caravel, Cassar in 
Britain, even Dante in the remotest hell, could have heard the gossip of 
London, the weather report in Genoa, the chariot racing results in Rome, 
and the voice of the lost Beatrice. As it is, boys in New Jersey are 
talking to boys in Scotland; milady at her breakfast table is receiving 
word of the morning's bargains at the emporiums; farmers pause in the 
furrow to get from the air the market report from New York; farmers' 
wives at their evening knitting, listen to grand opera in Chicago; train- 
men talk to dispatchers many miles away; explorers, a year's travel dis- 
tant in the antarctic, hear Bordeaux telling Melbourne that the pope in 
Rome is dead. 




Gilliams, N. Y. 



LISTENING IN " AT A HOSPITAL 




A MOTOR BUS EQUIPPED WITH RADIO RECEIVING SET 



26 



The Increase of Knowledge 27 

" These things are done by wireless. . . . The art of wireless, on its 
technical side ; is advancing so rapidly that even experts find it impos- 
sible to keep abreast of its daily advance. The dreams of twenty years 
are realized overnight, and the impossibilities of yesterday were accom- 
plished a half hour ago. What may tomorrow be f " 

What possibilities are here opened up for the gospel of our 
Lord! In a way undreamed of hitherto, and independent 
of weather conditions and transportation facilities, the seed 
of truth may reach untold millions at the very poles of the 
world. The burning sands of the Sahara, the frozen steppes 
of Siberia, the jungle fastnesses of India, the inaccessible 
gorges of the Himalayas, the serene calm of the mountain 
shepherd in his hut, as well as the groups of men and women 
on the far-flung oceans, could be put in touch with Christ's 
truth instantaneously, for the wireless leaps over all bar- 
riers of time and space.' 

What Do These Things Mean? 

It is not my purpose, however, in calling attention to 
these things, to arouse in the reader merely a sense of won- 
der, but rather to raise the question, What do these things 
mean ? It is the significance of these wonders which concerns 
me, and which I would have concern you. 

Why is it, then, that these amazing developments, these 
wonderful time and labor saving devices, have all come in 
our day? Why is it that they have been crowded into the 
last century ? Here is contained a lesson for all the world. 
Here is a sign from God Himself. 

All these marvels have come about in just this way and 
at just this time as a fulfilment of an ancient Bible proph- 
ecy, and they are here for God to use in carrying out His 
purpose for the earth and the race upon it. 

The Time of the End 

This is the prophecy : 

" But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to 
the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be 
increased." Dan. 12 : 4. 

Here Daniel is instructed to seal his writings until a fu- 
ture time called " the time of the end/' In this " time of 




International 

ONE OF THE APPLIANCES IN THE WORLD'S GREATEST RADIO 
STATION, NEAR BERLIN, GERMANY 

28 



The Increase of Knowledge 29 

the end " his writings, and, indeed, the great Bible prophe- 
cies, would be unsealed, made known, disclosed, and dissem- 
inated widely over the earth. For this purpose " knowledge 
shall be increased," and " many shall run to and fro/' 

That this is the primary meaning of this prophecy may 
be seen from a comparison of this passage as it appears in 
the German and French translations. The German reads : 

" And thou, Daniel, hide these words and seal this writing until the 
last time; then shall many comprehend it and find great understanding." 

The French reads : 

" But thou, Daniel, close these words and seal the book until the 
time appointed; at which they shall run through it, and of which the 
knowledge shall be increased." 

" The time of the end " is not the end of time ; that is, 
it is not the end itself; it is a short time preceding the end. 
It is, as the German translation has it, " the last time." There 
is to be, just before Jesus returns, a time during which 
Daniel's prophecy is to be made plain, is to be preached in 
all the earth, to acquaint men with the importance of the 
time in which they live, and prepare them to meet their Lord 
when He comes. This is here called " the time of the end." 

This time is to be known by two things : it is to be a time 
of unprecedented increase of knowledge, and it is to be a 
time of unparalleled running to and fro. 

This increase of knowledge will be primarily knowledge 
of the Scriptures, and this running to and fro will be pri- 
marily for the purpose of disseminating that knowledge. 
That is, when God's day is about to dawn and His Son is 
about to come, He will quicken all the faculties of the hu- 
man mind for the purpose of bringing into use all manner 
of devices, equipment, and inventions, in order that " this 
gospel of the kingdom " may be quickly carried to every 
land and people on the globe. 

This age of marvels is therefore only the carrying out of 
the purpose of God. It is all His doing, and He will use 
it all for His own designs. 

And the significance of it is, that this is " the time of the 
end;" this is "the last time" 



30 



Twelve Great Signs 



The Increase of Knowledge 

" The time of the end " is to be marked by two chief char- 
acteristics, — an unusual increase of knowledge and an ex- 
traordinary running to and fro. 

This is that time. There never has been such a time as 
during recent years for development and enlargement of 
human thought and knowledge. This is evidenced by the 
marvels of the present age to which we have already referred. 




AN AUTOMOBILE BUSINESS OFFICE 



By these we know that the predicted increase of knowledge 
has come. And by this we know more: we know that the 
divine prediction has been fulfilled, and we are in " the time 
of the end." 

One further consideration should here be emphasized. 
This increase of knowledge to take place in " the time of the 
end," was with special reference to the knowledge of the 
Scriptures, the prophecies, the Word of God. A little more 
than a century ago God's Word was little known, because 



The Increase of Knowledge 31 

it was scarce and expensive. Its circulation was limited to 
a very few, and those usually men of wealth. Printing fa- 
cilities were needed to put it out in the tongue of the peo- 
ple. A large output was needed to bring it within the reach 
of the people. Easy and rapid transportation was needed 
to get it into the hands of the people. Schools and educa- 
tion were needed to put it into the minds and within the 
comprehension of the people. A special divine message was 
needed to bring " this gospel of the kingdom " to the atten- 
tion of the people. And a great mission movement was 
needed, wielded by, and clothed with, the Spirit of God, to 
put it into the hearts of the people. 

All this has been witnessed during the last century and 
a quarter. The London Religious Tract Society was organ- 
ized in 1799 ; the British and Foreign Bible Society, in 1804 ; 
the American Bible Society, in 1816 ; and the American Tract 
Society, in 1825. The Bible has been printed in nearly 800 
languages and dialects, and nearly 800,000,000 copies of it, 
in whole or in part, have been distributed over all the earth. 
Never before has such a good degree of learning been so gen- 
eral as now. Schools, academies, colleges, universities, are 
everywhere. There are law, scientific, medical, theological, 
military, commercial, and agricultural schools, and semina- 
ries for the deaf, dumb, and blind. There are continually 
enlarging means provided for the education of the people. 

There is no mistake here. The time pointed forward to 
by Daniel is the time in which we live. Everything called for 
by this particular prophecy has been fulfilled. Knowledge 
has been increased most marvelously. All about us are the 
evidences. This is one of the great signs of the return of 
Jesus. This is " the time of the end." 




© S. M. Arthurs ; Courtesy N. Y. Central R. R. 

"THE MEETING OF THE WAYS" 

The first regular passenger train in America crossing the path 

of the stagecoach. 




*"3*fr»l»| 



After Painting by Wm. H. Foster 
(g N. Y. Centra] R. P. 

THE TWENTIETH CENTURY LIMITED 
32 • 




Wide World Photos 

THE " LOS ANGELES " ON ITS FIRST TRIAL FLIGHT 



THE SECOND SIGN — UNPARALLELED 
RUNNING TO AND FRO 



In the prophecy of Daniel a striking sign is given to iden- 
tify " the time of the end." Daniel reports the angel Gabriel 
as saying to him: 

" But thou, Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to 
the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be 
increased." 

" The time of the end " is, therefore, to be marked by 
unparalleled running to and fro. Fenton's translation of 
this verse reads : 

" So you, Daniel, conceal the events, and seal the record, until the 
fixed period, when many will travel and knowledge will be increased." 

" The time of the end," then, will be a time when " many 
will travel." 

Here is another great sign that our day is " the time of 
the end." This is a time of unparalleled travel. Going back 
and forth over the earth, " to and fro," are countless mul- 
titudes of people. Fast as rapid transportation facilities 
hare been developed, they have not been fast enough to 

3 33 



34 



Twelve Great Signs 



accommodate all who desire to travel. More and ever more 
railway routes are being surveyed and constructed. More 
and more steamship lines are being opened and operated. 
There is an automobile for every five persons in the United 
States. They crowd the highways and city streets to the 
point of grave danger to life and limb. How to care for 
them, to provide space and room for them, to guide and con- 
trol them in their swift passage, has become one of the most 




© Keystone 



THE AERIAL LIMOUSINE 



puzzling of civic problems. Airplanes roar over our heads, 
subways rumble under our feet. On the earth, over the earth, 
under the earth; on the sea, over the sea, and under the sea, 
myriads are running to and fro, going here and there to all 
the ends of the world, fulfilling the ancient word spoken 
twenty-five hundred years ago, and pointing with divine 
accuracy and infallible precision to this day of ours as " the 
time of the end," " the last time." 

Go to any great railway station, to any steamship ter- 
minus, and watch the thousands, the tens of thousands, yes, 
the hundreds of thousands, coming in, going out, moving 
here and there, endlessly, night and day, hour after hour, 



Unparalleled Running To and Fro 35 

through the weeks, and months, and years. The whole popu- 
lation of the earth seems to be in ceaseless motion, restlessly 
going from one place to another, crowding every conveyance, 
and constantly calling for more speed. 

What does it mean? It means that we have reached the 
time pointed out by God as " the time of the end/' 

This Is " The Last Time " 

This unparalleled running to and fro is a special charac- 
teristic of this particular time. Former generations did not 
travel as we do. Our grandfathers and grandmothers stayed 
at home. They didn't run about. The whole period of their 
lives was spent in a narrow area. A few miles from home 
was the extent of their journeying. To travel a distance of 
a hundred miles to some large city, or to visit some relative, 
such a trip as we would take and return from in a day, and 
think nothing of, to them was an event to be prepared for 
for months, and to be talked about afterw T ard while life lasted. 
They were home bodies. Their chief business was building 
the home. They stayed by it, and never wandered far 
from it. 

Not so with the present generation. Home seems to be 
considered a place to leave, not to stay. It is just a starting- 
point for somewhere else; a place to catch one's breath be- 
fore hurrying to the next place. 

Our forebears did not travel as we do. They did not 
w T ant to. And if they had wanted to, they could not have 
done so. They had no means of transportation such as we 
have. 

Up to a century and a quarter ago, w 7 hen men traveled 
on land they went in the same way, and by the same method, 
as Abraham journeyed from Ur of the Chaldees to the Land 
of Promise, on the back of some beast or in some dray or 
primitive cart pulled by a domesticated animal. For thou- 
sands of years no other way of travel had been devised. 

The Development of Rapid Transportation 

It has been within our own time that rapid transporta- 
tion has had its astonishing development. We fail to realize 
the wonder of it because we have grown so accustomed to it. 



36 



Twelve Great Signs 



We look up into the heavens, and see great airships passing 
from end to end of the continent, or gliding over the thou- 
sands of miles of ocean; airplanes that leap across a conti- 
nent in a single day, or that fly straight up toward heaven 
until they are beyond the reach of human vision; passenger 
planes that bind great cities and nations together by regular 
routes of travel; commercial airships for the transportation 
of merchandise. 

We look on the water, and see gigantic ships with fur- 
niture and fittings surpassing the palaces of ancient em- 




ir. & XL, N. Y. 

MOTOR CAR ON LAND 



SPEEDY BOAT IN WATER 



perors, containing people sufficient to populate small cities, 
and cleaving the waters with amazing speed, binding the con- 
tinents together as never before. 

We look on the earth, and see wonderful trains hurrying 
here and there, bearing tens of thousands of human beings 
from city to city, at a rate of speed which would have been 
incredible a few years ago. We see automobiles by the mil- 
lion, going at a speed scarcely slower than the trains, bearing 
other multitudes wherever they choose to go. 

And we know that under great cities in the subways, and 
under broad rivers in the tubes and tunnels, are other hun- 



Unparalleled Running To and Fro 37 

dreds of thousands hurrying about as are their fellows above 
them, going away from here to get to there. 

It is all so ordinary, so usual, that our sense of wonder 
no longer functions. We take it for granted. We are used 
to it. It seems as if it had always been going on. 

Unusual, Extraordinary, Amazing, Wonderful 

But, dear friend, it is unusual, it is extraordinary, it is 
amazing, it is wonderful. There never has been anything 
like it before. And it has a tremendous meaning, a meaning 
which you must not miss, which you must not lose, for your 
very soul. It marks this time; it is a special feature of this 




Gilliams, N. Y. 

FAMOUS MOTOR EXPEDITION THAT CONQUERED THE SAHARA 

time; and this special feature of this time identifies our day 
with certainty as " the time of the end." 

A hundred years ago such a thing as a railroad was un- 
known and incredible. A member of the New York Legis- 
lature in 1817 " came to be regarded as a proper subject for 
a strait- jacket, because he expressed his belief that steam 
carriages would be operated successfully on land." 

In 1825 Mr. Nicholas Wood, in his work on railways, 
said : 

" Nothing could do more harm toward the adoption of railways than 
the promulgation of such nonsense, as that we shall see locomotives 
traveling at the rate of twelve, sixteen, eighteen, and twenty miles an 
hour." * 



38 Twelve Great Signs 

In 1828 a debating society made a request of the school 
board in Lancaster, Ohio, for the use of the schoolhouse for 
the discussion of the question as to whether or not railroads 
were practical. The request was denied, and the following 

reasons were given by the board: 

•-•■ 

" You are welcome to use the schoolhouse to debate all proper ques- 
tions in, but such things as railroads and telegraphs are impossibilities 
and rank infidelity. There is nothing in the Word of God about them, 
If God had designed that His intelligent creatures should travel at the 
frightful speed of fifteen miles an hour, by steam, He would have clearly 
foretold it through His holy prophets. It is a device of Satan to lead 
immortal souls down to hell." 

And then, when the earliest railways were started in 
America, their passengers endured experiences almost unbe- 
lievable to us. A search through the annals of American 
railroading reveals that a slight rainfall would make a loco- 
motive take to cover; that sparks from the smokestack would 
set fire to the train; 4hat engines would be abandoned for 
the night; that oftentimes teams of horses would be called 
on, when the engine gave out, to drag the passengers to their 
destination. 

The First Steam Locomotives 

It was in January, 1829, that the first steam locomotive, 
named the " America," was delivered in the United States. 
It was made in England. It was tried on a sixteen-mile 
line from Carbondale to Honesdale, Pa. It was not a suc- 
cess. The first practical steam locomotive to run in Amer- 
ica, also made in England, and given the name of the " Stour- 
bridge Lion," was used in service on the same line on Aug. 
9, 1829. 

The first American-built locomotive was the " Best 
Friend," built at the West Point foundry in New York in 
1830. It was used in service on the South Carolina Rail- 
road in that year. It is said to have hauled about forty peo- 
ple in four or five cars at a speed of from sixteen to twenty- 
one miles an hour. Several months after it had been in 
service, its engineer, irritated by the sound of escaping steam, 
fastened down the safety valve, which resulted in a terrific 
explosion that blew the engine to pieces. 



Unparalleled Running To and Fro 39 

In 1831 the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad offered a prize 
of $4,000 for an American engine to weigh three and one- 
half tons, capable of drawing fifteen tons at fifteen miles an 
hour on the level. This was won the next year by Messrs. 
Davis and Gartner, who constructed the engine " York." In 
the same year Matthias W. Baldwin, founder of the Baldwin 
Locomotive Works, built his first locomotive, and tried it on 
the Philadelphia, Germantown, and Morristown Railroad. 

This engine called forth what is said to be the first rail- 
road advertisement ever published in America. It appeared 
in a Philadelphia paper, and read : 

"NOTICE! The locomotive engine (built by M. W. Baldwin of this 
city) will depart daily when the weather is fair, with a train of pas- 
senger cars. In bad weather horse cars will run on the same schedule." 

The first railway train which ever ran was used on the 
road from Liverpool to Manchester, England. This was 
called the Liverpool and Manchester Railway . It printed a 
document called " Rules for Travelers," and posted copies on 
its right of way. A perusal of it will give some idea how far 
railroading has advanced during the last century. It reads . 

" Copy of the Rules for Travelers on the First Railway 

" 1. Any person desiring to travel from Liverpool to Manchester, or 
vice versa, or any portion of the journey thereof, must, 24 hours before- 
hand, make application to the station agent at the place of departure, 
giving his name, address, place of birth, age, occupation, and reason for 
desiring to travel. 

" 2. The station agent, upon insuring himself that the applicant de- 
sires to travel for a just and lawful cause, shall thereupon issue a ticket 
to the applicant, who shall travel by the train named thereon. 

" 3. Trains will start at their point of departure as near schedule 
time as possible, but the Company do not guarantee when they will reach 
their destination. 

" 4. Trains not reaching their destination before dark will put up at 
one of the several stopping places along the route, for the night, and 
passengers must pay and provide for their own lodging during the night. 

" 5. Luggage will be carried on the roof of the carriages. If such 
baggage gets wet, the Company will not be responsible for any loss 
attaching thereto." 

In the things that meet our eyes all about us, wherever 
we go, in the street car, automobile, boat, or train, are evi- 
dences, unmistakable evidences, of the nearness of our Lord's 
return. Do not miss the lesson in these signs of the times. 
This is " the time of the end." 




THE DARK DAY AT $EA 
40 



" Immediately after the tribulation of those days 
shall the sun be darkened." Matt. 24 : 29. 




MAY 19, 1780 



When ye shall see all these things, know that 
He is near, even at the doors." Matt. 24:33. 



THE THIRD SIGN — THE DARK DAY 



After pronouncing terrible woes on the scribes and Phar- 
isees because of their hypocrisy and their rejection of His 
message and mission, our Lord cried out : 

" O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest 
them which are sent unto thee, how often would I have gathered thy 
children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, 
and ye would not! ". Matt. 23: 37. 

As a consequence of Jerusalem's refusal to accept Him, 

He pronounced this judgment : 

" Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. For I say unto you, 
Ye shall not see Me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that 
cometh in the name of the Lord." Verses 38, 39. 

Then passing out through the court of the temple with 
His disciples, He went to the Mount of Olives, where the 
disciples, troubled at His prediction of the desolation of Jeru- 
salem, and curious regarding His own second coming, asked 
Him the questions : 

" When shall these things be ? and what shall be the sign of Thy 
coming, and of the end of the world?" Matt. 24: 3. 

Replying to this question, Jesus gave them the evidences 
of the impending destruction of Jerusalem ; and then, ad- 

41 



42 Twelve Great Signs 

dressing Himself to their inquiry regarding the signs of His 

return, He definitely foretold two special signs which were 

to take place, saying, 

" When ye shall see all these things, know that He is near, even at 
the doors." Verse 33, margin. 

These special signs are thus described : 

" Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be 
darkened, . . . and the stars shall fall from heaven." Verse 29. 

The Darkening of the Sun 

Taking these two signs in their order for separate dis- 
cussion, attention is directed to the fact that one of the chief 
signs of the return of Jesus is a darkening of the sun, or a 
dark day. 

Such a sign is spoken of, not alone by Jesus, but by His 
servants the prophets. Thus we find Joel, in his prophecy 
of the last days, predicting that " tfte sun and the moon shall 
be dark." Joel 2 : 10. Isaiah, also, in speaking of the com- 
ing " day of the Lord," says : " The sun shall be darkened 
in his going forth." Isa. 13 : 9, 10. Joel repeats this proph- 
ecy when he, too, speaks of " the day of the Lord," saying : 
" The sun and the moon shall be darkened." Joel 3 : 15. 
Peter, upon the day of Pentecost, says : " The sun shall be 
turned into darkness . . . before that great and notable day 
of the Lord come." Acts 2 : 20. John the revelator, too, 
foretells the same sign just before the great day of the wrath 
of God, saying: " The sun became black as sackcloth of hair." 
Rev. 6 : 12. 

Here, then, is a notable sign, mentioned again and again, 
which, when it occurs, is to be taken as a sure evidence of 
the nearness of the second coming of Christ. In fact, when 
it takes place, men are to " know that He is near, even at 
the door." 

Within a Limited Period 

To safeguard the identity of the particular dark day 
which is to constitute this sign, and to prevent it from being 
confused with any other dark day, the Lord located its oc- 
currence within a very definite period of years. 



The Dark Day 43 

In our Lord's own prophecy, as recorded by Matthew, 
the dark day which was to be a sign of His second coming 
was to come " immediately after the tribulation of those 
days." Matt. 24:29. The tribulation here referred to is 
the persecution of the saints of God by a false religious 
power, which, beginning in the Dark Ages, was brought to 
an end as a result of the establishment of the principles 
espoused by the Protestant Reformation, the tribulation hav- 
ing practically ceased by 1776 a. d. " Immediately after " 
that, the sign of the dark day was to take place. 

The record Mark gives of this same prophecy of our Lord 
still further limits the time of the occurrence of the dark 
day, and makes its certain identification still easier. Mark 
reports Jesus as saying : " In those days, after that tribu- 
lation, the sun shall be darkened." Mark 13 : 24. 

Between 1776 and 1798 

The tribulation was ended approximately by 1776. The 
" days " mentioned are the days assigned by the prophet 
Daniel for the supremacy of the Papacy, 1260 in number, 

A.D a.d. 

538 THE 1260 YEARS 1 798 

reaching from 538 a. d. to 1798. The sign of the dark day 
was to take place " in those days," that is, before 1798, but 
" after that tribulation," that is, after 1776. 

Within a short period of 22 years, so accurate are the 
prophecies of the Holy Scriptures, we are to look for, and 
find, that particular dark day which the Lord would have 
us accept as one of the chief signs of the nearness of His 
return to this earth. 

How exact and marvelous are the Lord's f oretellings ! 
There is, there can be, no mistake here. Between the years 
1776 and 1798 there was to occur a darkening of the sun 
which was to constitute a sign of the nearness of the end 
of the world. 

Has the prophecy been fulfilled? Did the predicted dark 
day take place? It has, and it did. 




WILLIAM HUNTER BURNED 
AT THE STAKE 

44 



"Except those days [the 12 60-day s, or years, 
of persecution] should be shortened, there 
should no flesh be saved.' 



Matt. 24:22. 



The Dark Day 45 

May 19, 1780 

Read the testimony of an eyewitness, a Harvard pro- 
fessor : 

" The time of this extraordinary darkness was May 19, 1780. It 
came on between the hours of 10 and 11 a. m., and continued until the 
middle of the next night, but with different appearance at different 
places. 

" As to the manner of its approach, it seemed to appear first of a~l 
in the southwest. The wind came from that quarter, and the darkness 
appeared to come on with the clouds that came in that direction. 

" The degree to which the darkness arose was different in different 
places. In most parts of the country it was so great that people 
were unable to read common print, determine the time of day by their 
clocks or watches, dine, or manage their domestic business, without the 
light of candles. In some places the darkness was so great that persons 
could not see to read common print in the open air, for several hours 
together; but I believe this was not generally the case. 

" The extent of this darkness was very remarkable. Our intelligence 
in this respect is not so particular as I could wish; but from the accounts 
that have been received, it seems to have extended all over the New 
England States. It was observed as far east as Falmouth [Portland, 
Maine]. To the westward we hear of its reaching to the farthest parts 
of Connecticut, and Albany. To the southward it was observed all along 
the seacoasts, and to the north as far as our settlements extend. It is 
probable that it extended much beyond these limits in some direc- 
tions. . . . 

" With regard to its duration, it continued in this place at least four- 
teen -hours; but it is probable that this was not exactly the same in dif- 
ferent parts of the country. 

" The appearance and effects were such as tended to make the pros- 
pect extremely dull and gloomy. Candles were lighted up in the houses; 
the birds, having sung their evening songs, disappeared, and became 
silent; the fowls retired to roost; the cocks were crowing all around, as 
at break of day; objects could not be distinguished but at a very little 
distance; and everything bore the appearance and gloom of night." — 
Samuel Williams, A. M., Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Philosophy 
in the University of Cambridge, Mass., in " Memoirs of the American 
Academy of Arts and Sciences," to the close of 1783, Vol. I, pp. 234, 235. 

The True Cause Not Known 

The true cause of this phenomenon is not known. This 
is admitted : 

" The Dark Day, May 19, 1780, so called on account of a remarkable 
darkness on that day extending over all New England. In some places, 
persons could not see to read common print in the open air for several 
hours together. Birds sang their evening songs, disappeared, and became 
silent; fowls went to roost; cattle sought the barnyard; and candles 
were lighted in the houses. The obscuration began about ten o'clock h> 
the morning, and continued till the middle of the next night, but with 
differences of degree and duration in different places. For several days 
previous, the wind had been variable, but chiefly from the southwest and 



46 Twelve Great Signs 

the northeast. The true cause of this remarkable phenomenon is not 
known." — Noah Webster's Dictionary (edition 1869), under Explanatory 
and Pronouncing Vocabulary of Noted Names of Fiction, etc. 

" On the 19th of May, 1780, an uncommon darkness took place all 
over New England, and extended to Canada. It continued about four- 
teen hours, or from ten o'clock in the morning till midnight. The dark- 
ness was so great that people were unable to read common print, or tell 
the time of the day by their watches, or to dine, or transact their ordi- 
nary business without the light of candles. They became dull and 
gloomy, and some were excessively frightened. The fowls retired to 
their roosts. Objects could not be distinguished but at a very little dis- 
tance, and everything bore the appearance and gloom of night. 

" The causes of these phenomena are unknown. They certainly were 
not the result of eclipses." — " The Guide to Knowledge, or Repertory of 
Facts/' edited by Eobert Sears, p. 428. 

Whittier Wrote of It 

The dark day was such an important event in New Eng- 
land that it was commemorated in one of the poems of Whit- 
tier, who wrote : 

" 'Twas on a May day of the far old year 
Seventeen hundred eighty, that there fell 
Over the bloom and sweet life of the spring, 
Over the fresh earth and the heaven of noon, 
A horror of great darkness. . . . 

" Men prayed, and women wept ; all ears grew sharp 
To hear the doom blast of the trumpet shatter 
The black sky, that the dreadful face of Christ 
Might look upon the rent clouds, not as He looked 
A loving guest at Bethany, but stern 
As Justice and inexorable Law." 

— "Abraham Davenport. 7 ' 

The People Believed It to Be a Sign 

Upon the people of that time the effect created by the 
darkening of the sun in this unaccountable manner was to 
convince them that the end of the world was near. Con- 
cerning this we have this record: 

" Hosts of people believed the end of the world had begun to come ; 
men dropped to their knees to pray in the field; many ran to their 
neighbors to confess wrongs and ask forgiveness ; multitudes rushed into 
the meeting houses in towns where they had su^i, where pious and aged 
ministers, pleading repentance, interceded with God in their behalf; and 
everywhere throughout this day of wonder and alarm, the once careless 
thought of their sins and their Maker! . . . 

" The darkness somewhat increased all day, and before time of sunset, 
was so intense that no object whatever could be distinguished. Anx- 
iously and tremblingly, people waited for the full moon to rise at nine 
o'clock, and even little children with strained eyes, sat silently watching 
for its beautiful beams to appear. But they were disappointed, the 



The Dark Day 47 

darkness being unaffected by the moon. The most feeling prayers ever 
prayed in Antrim were at the family altars that night. Children never 
had more tender blessing than these mothers gave them that night. They 
slept soundly for the most part, but the parents chiefly sat up all night 
to wait and see if the glorious sun would r'se again. Never dawned a 
lovelier morning than that 20th of May ! Never were hearts more thank- 
ful on the earth! Even thoughtless people praised God! 

" So much were the whole population affected by this event, that, 
at the succeeding March meeting, the town voted, March 9, 1781, to keep 
the next 19th of May as a day of fasting and prayer." — " History of 
the Toivn of Antrim, Neiv Hampshire" Rev. W. B. Cochrane, pp. 58, 59. 

Filled with Awe and Alarm 

The occurrence of the sign filled the people with awe 

and alarm. One writer says : 

" Men, ordinarily cool, were rilled with awe and alarm. Excitable 
people believed the end of the world had come; some ran about saying 
the day of judgment was at hand; the wicked hurried to their neighbors 
to confess wrongs and ask forgiveness; the superstitious dropped on 
their knees to pray in the fields, or rushed into meeting houses to call 
on God to preserve them." — " History of Weare, New Hampshire," 1735- 
1888, Wm. Little, Lowell, Mass., p. 276. 

A Profound Impression of Impending Judgment 

A profound impression of the nearness of the judgment 
was a feature of this occurrence. Regarding this another 
writer says : 

" Dr. Nathanael Whittaker, pastor of the Tabernacle church in Salem, 
held religious services in the meeting house, and preached a sermon in 
which he maintained that the darkness was supernatural. Congregations 
came together in many other places. The texts for the extemporaneous 
sermons were invariably those that seemed to indicate that the darkness 
was consonant with Scriptural prophecy. Such texts as these were used: 
Isa. 13: 10; Eze. 32: 7, 8; Joel 2: 31; Matt. 24: 29, 30; Rev. 6: 12. 

" Devout fathers gathered their families around them in their homes, 
and conducted religious services; and for a few hours Christians were 
stirred to activity, and nonprofessors earnestly sought for salvation, ex- 
pecting ' to hear the thunder of the wrath of God break from the hollow 
trumpet of the cloud/ " — " The Essex Antiquarian," Vol. Ill, No. 4, pp. 
53, 54, Salem, Mass., April, 1899. 

Thus nearly a century and a half ago one of the great- 
est and earliest of the signs of the return of Jesus was ful- 
filled, and fulfilled at the exact time pointed forward to by 
our Lord Himself. And from that day to this, during all 
the intervening time, the years have been crowded with 
evidences that time is hurrying to its close and the Saviour 
is about to appear. 







THE FALLING STARS 
NOV. 13, 1833 

48 



The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even 
as a fig tree casteth her untimely figs, when 
she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6: 13. 




A STAR THE SIGN OF 
THE FIRST ADVENT 



The star, which they saw in the east, went 
before them, till it came and stood over 
where the young child was." Matt. 2 : 9. 



THE FOURTH SIGN — THE FALLING OF 

THE STARS 

Coupled with the dark day of May 19, 1780, in the 
prophecy of our Lord concerning His second coming, is an- 
other great sign. Jesus said : 

" Immediately after the tribulation of those days shall the sun be 
darkened, . . . and the stars shall fall from heaven." Matt. 24: 29. 

Another Bible writer records it thus : 

" The stars of heaven shall fall." Mark 13 : 25. 

John, in vision, is given this view of it : 

" The stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casteth 
her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a mighty wind." Rev. 6: 13. 

November 13, 1833 

It being mentioned in the prophecy of our Lord after 
He speaks of the darkening of the sun, we should, of course, 
seek for the occurrence of this sign after the dark day. 
Fifty-three years after the dark day, on the morning of Nov. 

4 49 



50 Twelve Great Signs 

13, 1833, we locate the most striking meteoric shower of all 

recorded history, and in this we see the sign given us by 

Jesus Himself to indicate the nearness of the time of His 

return. 

A Yale professor thus describes this majestic occurrence: 

" The morning of November 13, 1833, was rendered memorable by 
an exhibition of the phenomenon called shooting stars, which was prob- 
ably more extensive and magnificent than any similar one hitherto re- 
corded. . . . Probably no celestial phenomenon has ever occurred in this 
country, since its first settlement, which was viewed with so much ad- 
miration and delight by one class of spectators, or with so much aston- 
ishment and fear by another class. For some time after the occurrence, 
the i meteoric phenomenon ' was the principal topic of conversation in 
every circle." — Denison Olmsted, Professor of Mathematics and Natural 
Philosophy in Yale College, in the American Journal of Science and 
Arts, Vol. XXV (1834), pp. 363, 364. 

In his "Astronomy for Everybody," page 280, Prof. Simon 
Newcomb, LL. D., in comparing this meteoric shower with 
others, declares it to be " the most remarkable one ever 
observed." 

Seen Over Wide Areas 

This falling of the stars was seen over wide areas, 
throughout the United States and other countries. An ob- 
server in Missouri writes of it : 

" Though there was no moon, when we first beheld them, their bril- 
liancy was so great that we could, at times, read common-sized print 
without much difficulty, and the light which they afforded was much 
whiter than that of the moon, in the clearest and coldest night, when 
the ground is covered with snow. The air itself, the face of the 
earth, as far as we could behold it, — all the surrounding objects, and 
the very countenances of men, wore the aspect and hue of death, occa- 
sioned by the continued, pallid glare of these countless meteors, which 
in all their grandeur flamed ' lawless through the sky/ There was a 
grand, peculiar, and indescribable gloom on all around, an awe-inspiring 
sublimity on all above: while 

' the sanguine flood 
Rolled a broad slaughter o'er the plains of heaven, 
And Nature's self did seem to totter on the brink of time ! ' 

"... There was scarcely a space in the firmament which was not 
filled at every instant with these falling stars, nor on it, could you in 
general perceive any particular difference in appearance ; still at times 
they would shower down in groups — calling to mind the ' fig tree cast- 
ing" her untimely figs when shaken by a mighty wind.' " — Letter from 
Bowling Green, Missouri, to Professor Silliman, in the American Jour- 
nal of Arts and Sciences. Vol. XXV (1834), p. 382. 



The Falling of the Stars 51 

Exactly Described in the Bible 

A London scientist pointed out its similarity to the pro- 
phetic picture of a fig tree casting its untimely figs: 

" In many districts, the mass of the population were terror-struck, 
and the more enlightened were awed at contemplating so vivid a picture 
of the Apocalyptic image — that of the stars of heaven falling to the 
earth, even as a fig tree casting her untimely figs, when she is shaken of a 
mighty wind." — " The Gallery of Nature/' Rev. Thomas Milner, F. R. 
G. S., p. 140. 

A writer on astronomy speaks of it in a striking descrip- 
tion as a " tempest of falling stars." He says : 

" On the night of November 12-13, 1833, a tempest of falling stars 
broke over the earth. North America bore the brunt of its pelting. 
From the Gulf of Mexico to Halifax, until daylight with some difficulty 
put an end to the display, the sky was scored in every direction with 
shining tracks and illuminated with majestic fireballs. " — " History of 
Astronomy in the Nineteenth Century/' Agnes M. Clerke, p. 328. 

Seen in Other" Countries 

The display was seen in Mexico and the West Indies as 
well as in the United States. One writer says : 

" The year 1833 is memorable for the most magnificent display [of 
falling meteors] on record. This was on the same night of November 
1 13] also, and was visible over all the United States, and over a part of 
Mexico, and the West India Islands. Together with the smaller shoot- 
ing stars, which fell like snowflakes, and produced phosphorescent lines 
along their course, there were intermingled l^rge fireballs, which darted 
forth at intervals, describing in a few seconds an arc of 30 or 40 de- 
grees. . . . 

" At Niagara the exhibition Avas especially brilliant, and probably no 
spectacle so terribly grand and sublime was ever before beheld by man 
as that of the firmament descending in fiery torrents over the dark and 
roaring cataract/' — " The American Cyclopedia/' art. " Meteors." 

Accepted as a Sign 

And this, too, was accepted by those who witnessed it, 

as a sign of the Lord's coming, a forerunner of the last day. 

" We pronounce the raining fire which we saw on Wednesday morn- 
ing last an awful type, a sure forerunner, a merciful sign, of that great 
and dreadful day which the inhabitants of the earth will witness when 
the sixth seal shall be opened." — " The Old Countryman/' New York, 
printed in the New York Star and quoted in the Portland Evening Ad- 
vertiser, Nov. 26, 1833. 

In His mercy the Lord gave these signs that His believ- 
ing people might have hope. He wanted them to know that 
He was superintending the affairs of the universe, and bring- 




JESUS TELLING HIS DISCIPLES 
OF HIS SECOND COMING 



" When these things begin to come to 
pass, then look up, and lift up your 
heads ; for your redemption draweth 
nigh." Luke 21 : 28, 



The Falling of the Stars 53 

ing His plans to fruition. These signs, too, as they occurred, 
were to act as great incentives to the progress of the message 
of His second coming, and were calculated to bring comfort 
to His expectant people. The word of the Lord is : 

" When these things begin to come to pass, then look up, and lift 
up your heads ; for your redemption draweth nigh." Luke 21 : 28. 

So let the believer be filled with hope. One writer has 

said: 

" If a Christian lives under the power of this glorious hope, he will 
just as certainly be purified by it as the linen is to whiten out under 
the rays of the sun. You may say that it is too distant and mysterious 
an idea to affect us very strongly. But it is what we contemplate that 
influences us most powerfully, not what we see and handle merely. ' As 
a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.' " 

In the Bible, Christians are spoken of as " those that love 
His appearing." That which we love has an effect upon us 
to change us. We become like that which we love. If the 
object of our desire is sordid, our thoughts will become cheap 
and low and sordid. If it is an elevated object of desire, 
it will just as certainly elevate and exalt our affections. It 
is said of Michael Angelo that by perpetual looking up to 
the wonderful frescoes on which he worked in the domes of 
churches, he acquired a fixed upward gaze which he never 
overcame. As he passed along the street, he gave the im- 
pression that he w r as always contemplating something in 
the sky. 

So our Lord Jesus gave this great and glorious hope of 
His return to His church, that His disciples might have their 
faces turned steadily homeward and not earthward. Oh, 
look toward the sky, and catch the light of the coming King. 
Do not look toward the earth, or permit your face to be 
tinged with the reflection of the yellow gold ; but " look up 
and lift up your heads," and let your countenance reflect 
" the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face 
of Jesus Christ." 2 Cor. 4 : 6. 

May our Saviour's believing children be like men who 
wait for their Lord when He shall return from heaven. 
" Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 
even as He is pure." 1 John 3 ; 3. 




HOMES RUINED BY WAR 




U. & V., N. Y. 



SEARCHING FOR THE GRAVES OF THUS DEAB 



54 



Western Newspaper Union 

BEAUTIFUL GENEVA. THE SEAT OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS 



THE FIFTH SIGN — WARS AND RUMORS 

OF WARS 

The whole warlike condition of the world is a sign of 
the times. It was given as a sign by the Lord Himself. 

In answering the question of His disciples, " What shall 

be the sign of Thy coming, and of the end of the world? " 

Jesus said: 

" Ye shall hear of wars and rumors of wars. . . . Nation shall rise 
against nation, and kingdom against kingdom/' Matt. 24: 6, 7. 

Thus the constant alarms of war which fill the public 
press, resulting sometimes from such small things as diplo- 
matic misunderstandings; the difficulties that arise out of 
prejudices regarding race and color; the smoldering flames 
of the contention between capital and labor, — all these in- 
ternational, inter-racial, inter-religious, and economie ani- 
mosities that fill the papers and promise never-ending trouble, 
are evidences of the times we are living in, and prove that 
the end is near. 

To the words of Christ agree the words of the ancient 
prophets. At the end of the world, so Haggai spoke for 
Jehovah, the Lord said : 

55 



56 Twelve Great Signs 

" I will overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and I will destroy the 
strength of the kingdoms of the heathen; and I will overthrow the 
chariots, and those that ride in them; and the horses and their riders 
shall come down, every one by the sword of his brother." Haggai 2: 22. 

Joel makes a similar prophecy : 

" Proclaim ye this among the Gentiles : Prepare war, wake up the 
mighty men, let all the men of war draw near; let them come up: beat 
your plowshares into swords, and your pruning hooks into spears: let 
the weak say, I am strong. Assemble yourselves, and come, all ye hea- 
then, and gather yourselves together round about: thither cause thy 
mighty ones to come down, O Lord. Let the heathen be wakened, and 
come up to the valley of Jehoshaphat: for there will I sit to judge 
all the heathen round about. Put ye in the sickle, for the harvest is 
ripe: come, get you down; for the press is full, the fats overflow; for 
their wickedness is great. Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of deci- 
sion: for the day of the Lord is near in the valley of decision." Joel 
3:9-14. 

It is plain from this that when " the day of the Lord is 
near," war is to be prepared, the mighty men awakened, all 
the men of war equipped and assembled, and there will be 
a strife such as the world has never before witnessed. 

John the revelator also predicted that when the king- 
doms of this world are about to " become the kingdoms of 
our Lord, and of His Christ" (Rev. 11:15), then — 

" The nations were angry, and Thy wrath is come, and the time" of 
the dead, that they should be judged, and that Thou shouldst give reward 
unto Thy servants the prophets, and to the saints, and them that fear 
Thy name, small and great; and shouldst destroy them which destroy 
the earth." Eev. 11 : 18. 

The Breeding of War 

The writer will not attempt to point to wars now taking 
place as a fulfilment of these divine predictions. Before 
these words can be printed, changes will come which would 
make such references out of date. It will suffice to note the 
universally recognized fact that the war spirit is everywhere 
in the world, — among the nations, in the various classes of 
society, between races and creeds, between labor unions and 
great aggregations of capital, between parties and religions, 
— and all these promise never-ending conflict. " Wars and 
rumors of wars " are all about us, and these are but one 
more indication that this is " the time of the end." 

The breeding of war seems to be a permanent human 
industry. Every government must be propped up by an 



Wars and Rumors of Wars 57 

army. Issues that touch questions of sovereignty must be 
settled by the arbitrament of the sword. And mankind has 
been able to devise no way by which wars shall cease. It 
does not seem possible to outlaw war. Even though the best 
of men and the best of governments believe that war should 
be banished from the earth, yet wars still continue and grow 
increasingly destructive and terrible. 

Viewing the terrible totals of desolation, misery, and 
death which war has caused in the world, every friend of 
God and man must desire its end. It would be the brightest, 
fairest, holiest day of earth's history which would end all 
the untold brutalities of human strife. 

The Vain Hope of Ending War 

Many persons have felt this, and acting accordingly, have 
striven to bring about such a glorious consummation. Lead- 
ers of the churches, together with officers of civil government, 
rightly discerning that war is utterly opposed to the princi- 
ples of Christianity, justice, and common sense, have hoped 
to bring the nations to an agreement by which war may 
be abolished. 

The idea, excellent as it is, has not proved practicable, 
nor will it. Churchmen, in espousing it, fail to understand 
the revealed purpose of God regarding the church and the 
world. Having cast aside the ancient and universal faith 
of the Christian church in those prophecies which predict 
the personal coming of the Lord Jesus to establish an eter- 
nal kingdom of peace in a redeemed world, and having 
adopted the modern fallacy of a temporal millennium to be 
brought about by the world's conversion to the gospel, they 
have put forth their efforts for world peace in harmony with 
this mistaken idea. 

Prophecies Misapplied 

And as a consequence, they have read and interpreted all 
Scripture prophecy in the light of this mistaken idea. Hence 
they talk much about the nations' saying they will beat their 
swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks, 
but say little about God's command to beat the plowshares 



58 twelve Great Signs 

into swords and the pruning hooks into spears. Isa. 2:3, 4 ; 
Joel 3 : 9, 10. They talk of nations' learning war no more, 
but overlook God's command, " Proclaim ye this among the 
Gentiles: Prepare w r ar, wake up the mighty men." Joel 3 : 9. 
They speak of the heathen becoming Christ's inheritance and 
the uttermost parts of the earth His possession, but forget 
He is to " break them with a rod of iron " and " dash them 
in pieces like a potter's vessel." Ps. 2 ■ 9. They make much 
reference to the year of the redeemed, but fail to see that it 
is joined with the day of God's vengeance. Isa. 63 : 4. 

They believe the God of heaven will set up His kingdom 
in the earth, but strangely overlook the fact that it will 
".break in pieces and consume " (not convert) all other king- 
doms. Dan. 2 : 44. They read that the kingdom under the 
whole heaven is to be given to Christ and His people, but 
fail to notice that preceding this must come the judgment, 
the fiery flames, and the destruction of earth's temporal pow- 
ers. Daniel 7. 

They look for the time when the wise are to shine as the 
brightness of the firmament, and as the stars forever and 
ever, but forget that this is preceded by the " time of trouble, 
such as never was since there was a nation," the deliverance 
of the people of God, and the resurrection of the dead. Dan. 
12 : 1-4. They believe the righteous are yet to " shine forth 
as the sun in the kingdom of their Father," but overlook the 
fact that before this the wheat and tares must grow together 
until the harvest; that the harvest is the end of the world, 
and the reapers are the angels; and that the wicked are first 
to be gathered and cast into a furnace of fire. Matthew 13. 

They look for the fulfilment of the prediction that the 
kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our Lord 
and of His Christ, but do not see that when this is about to 
occur, the nations are angry, His wrath is come, the dead 
are judged, and the wicked destroyed. Rev. 11 : 18. 

In this way prophecies referring to the times of blessing 
which shall prevail when Christ and His saints reign in the 
eternal kingdom of peace, have been misapplied to the pros- 
perity of the church without Christ in this present age. 



Wars and Rumors of Wars 



59 



Hopes built upon such false interpretations and misapplied 
prophecies are doomed to bitter disappointment. 

Civilization Has Not Stopped War 

All that civilization has been able to accomplish with ref- 
erence to checking war has been to utter a feeble protest 
and point out its horrors. It has striven to ameliorate un- 




Wide World Photos 

ASSEMBLY OF THE LEAGUE OF NATIONS AT GENEVA 

necessary suffering by establishing laws of war between 
civilized nations. But it has not stopped war, nor have its 
horrors been greatly lessened, if at all. 

And civilization cannot stop war. It cannot stop war 
because war is in the human heart, and civilization cannot 
change the heart, it cannot transform the nature, it cannot 
implant a new nature. 

" Whence come wars and fightings among you ? come they not hence, 
even of your lusts that war in your members'? " James 4:1. 

Wars will not stop until the nature of the human race 
^is changed. Men, in their fallen nature, may recognize the 



60 



Twelve Great Signs 



evil of war, and desire to stop it, and attempt to stop it, and 
resolve to stop it, and hold international conferences to stop 
it, but men cannot stop it as long as their nature remains 
fallen. 

And civilization provides no remedy for fallen human 
nature, out of which war grows. Therefore civilization 
cannot stop war ; for it cannot change the heart. 

Religion Has Not Stopped War 

Nor can religion stop war. Not even Christianity, con- 
sidered as a creed, a body of teaching, can stop war. And 




THE PEACE PALACE AT VERSAILLES 

Christianity, considered as an organization, a church, can- 
not stop war. 

For religion, even pure religion, as an ethical system, does 
not change hearts, does not implant a new nature. Chris- 
tianity, as a mere creed, may give right ideas, but it cannot 
give right hearts. And Christianity as. a church, a divine 
institution, so long as it must be applied to human problems 
by imperfect men, does not and cannot change hearts. 

This change of heart, of nature, is an individual, not a 
national, matter. It is not accomplished by Christianity as 
a system, but by Christ as a person. 



Wars and Bumors of Wars 61 

And civilization does not lead men to Christ, The world 
has not accepted, and never will accept Christ, The world 
cannot, therefore, stop war^ Wars grow out of human na- 
ture. Christ alone can change human nature. Men will not 
come to Him for that change. So long as the race endures, 
therefore, war cannot be stopped — except by the destruc- 
tion of the race that rejects Christ. 

War began almost as soon as sin began. From the be- 
ginning of the race until now, war has existed and increased. 
Nothing that civilization, education, or philanthropy has 
done has been able to stop it or even check it. And nothing 
that man can devise or invent will stop it, TJie human race 
is doomed to destroy itself. It is feeding on its own flesh. 
Christ is its only hope, and it will not have Christ, 
Efforts to Ameliorate War's Horrors 

In the beginning of human warfare the victors were un- 
deterred by scruples, and worked their own wills upon the 
conquered. There were no rules of warfare, and mercy and 
decency were unknown, or very seldom applied. The slaugh- 
ter of surrendered armies is boasted of in kingly inscriptions 
as the glory of the dynasty. 

Faint criticism of such procedure began to be voiced in 
the days of Greece. Certain men began to think of war as 
an evil, a calamity. They did not think it could be stopped, 
but they thought of it as an evil, and believed there should 
be some code of conduct in connection with it. Out of this 
grew the rudimentary rules of war. Women and children 
were still killed and prisoners slaughtered, but these things 
began to require an explanation. Fifty years before Christ, 
Julius Caesar was roundly denounced in the Roman senate 
for putting the Usipites and Tencteri to death. 

Christianity later gave a strong impulse to the movement 
to establish a code of military ethics. An unjust war came 
to be regarded as wicked. Attempts were made to establish 
a tradition of chivalrous warfare. One step in this direction 
was the " Truce of God," by which it was declared wicked 
to fight on certain days of the week. 

By the twentieth century the code of war was quite defi- 
nite, and was finallv sanctioned almost as international law 



62 Twelve Great Signs 

by The Hague Peace Conference. Noncombatant populations, 
and especially women and children, were sheltered as much 
as possible; cities must not be besieged until such noncom- 
batants were given time to get away from the coming bom- 
bardment and starvation; victors in occupied areas were re- 
sponsible for the lives of the inhabitants; prisoners of war 
must not only be spared their lives, but adequately fed and 
housed; every reasonable opportunity must be given sur- 
geons, nurses, and stretcher bearers to rescue and treat the 
wounded ; and certain " barbarous " methods of killing might 
not be used. These rules were generally accepted, and they 
constituted the general attitude toward war when the nations 
rushed into the Great World War of 1914-18. 

Wars Have Not Ended 

Soon after that war started, the demand became great 
that it must be the last war. It became " the war to end 
war." A great cry rose from the hearts of the millions of 
bereaved, that this hideous thing must never again be per- 
mitted to break out. 

Since the war, this demand has been answered by peace 
conferences, many in number, but all that has been accom- 
plished to date is the scrapping of a few ships, mostly obso- 
lete types. Wars have not stopped. There are as many of 
them as ever, and a prospect of many more. Millions of 
men are bearing arms; billions of dollars are being spent to 
maintain great armies and armaments.; other millions in 
testing and experimenting with new inventions and equip- 
ment for killing; other millions for scientific development of 
agencies for killing; and the world is just as much an armed 
camp as ever before. There is the same malice and hatred 
and enmity in human hearts; there are the same intrigues 
and schemes and overreaching in diplomatic circles; and men 
are just as ready to fly at each other's throat, as at any 
former time. 

Man Ruined the World 

Man ruined the world by his sin, and then was given a 
chance to show whether he could rebuild it. He ruined it 
in a day; he was given six thousand years to attempt its 
reconstruction. Full time, ample scope, large opportunity, 



Wars and Rumors of Wars 63 

were granted. God has not hindered the attempt, or hurried 
man in making it. Man has been put to the proof, allowed 
to do his best, and has been given time to do it. 

Man's downward progress was swift enough; he was 
given opportunity to demonstrate whether his upward prog- 
ress would be as rapid, or whether there could be any such 
thing as upward progress at all, when he is left alone. 

So God has been putting man to the test. He says to 
him, " Govern the world." Man tried it — and failed. " Re- 
generate the world." Man tried — and failed. " Bring about 
enduring peace — abolish war." Man has tried — and failed. 
And good men are still trying, but with little promise of 
success, for they are unable to change over their own evil 
natures, to say nothing of changing the nature of the whole 
human family. 

Unfit to Rule 

Man's day has been a long one, nearly six thousand years. 
In every possible circumstance and with all advantages he 
has demonstrated himself helpless, ignorant, evil; unfit to 
rule, and unfit to be left without a ruler; unfit to teach, 
and unwilling to be taught; unfit to be intrusted with the 
care or management of anything within the wide circle of 
the world, from the dust under his feet to his own soul. 

The demonstration of man's utter incapacity is about 
complete. When his unworthiness of trust, and his inability 
for any progress except in a dow r nw r ard direction, are wholly 
demonstrated, God will set him aside as " a despised and 
broken vessel," and bring in the " second man," " the last 
Adam," even His own eternal Son. 

The great experiment of six thousand years is nearing its 
end. Man's trial is drawing to a close. The vast demon- 
stration is about finished. And man has manifestly failed. 
All classes and conditions of men have had their trial ; kings, 
princes, nobles, peasants, beggars; statesmen, diplomats, mas- 
ters; parents, children, servants; poets, philosophers, artists, 
mechanics, — all have had their long age of trial, and all 
have failed, failed because creative power alone can change 
fallen human nature. 




REVELRY ON ^HE BRINK 
OF DESTRUCTION 



As it was in the days of Noe . . . 
Likewise also as it was in the 
days of Lot." Luke 17 : 26, 28. 



THE SIXTH SIGN — RESTLESSNESS, LAW- 
LESSNESS, AND ABOUNDING INIQUITY 

Another important sign given by Christ of the nearness 
of His second coming, is stated in His words : 

"Iniquity shall abound." Matt. 24: 12. 

Certainly as we look about us today, we are compelled 
to acknowledge that our generation is characterized by 
abounding iniquity. 

The condition of the world before the flood is set forth 
as a type of the condition of the world immediately before 
the second coming of Christ. We are divinely directed to 
the days of Noah for a complete description of the condi- 
tions which will prevail before the end : 

" As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the 
Son of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were 
given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the 
flood came, and destroyed them all. Likewise also as it was in the days 
of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, 
they builded; but the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained 
fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. Even thus shall 
it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed." Luke 17:26-30. 

5 t>5 



66 Twelve Great Signs 

Fixing our thought upon the history of that ancient time, 

perhaps the first thing that arrests our attention is the fact 

that wickedness and corruption were widespread. We read : 

" God saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and 
that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil con- 
tinually." Gen. 6:5. 

That the wickedness and atheism of that time were ac- 
companied by violence, is thus made plain: 

" The earth also was corrupt before God, and the earth was filled 
with violence." Gen. 6: 11. 

World-wide Anarchy and Atheism 

This ancient anarchy and atheism became so prevalent 

throughout the earth that the whole world was atheistic. 

As a consequence, God destroyed the earth with a deluge of 

water. 

" God looked upon the earth, and, behold, it was corrupt ; for all 
flesh had corrupted his way upon the earth. And God said unto Noah, 
The end of all flesh is come before Me; for the earth is filled with vio- 
lence through them; and, behold, I will destroy them with the earth." 
Gen. 6: 12, 13. 

This ancient restlessness, lawlessness, violence, and athe- 
ism are paralleled today, and thus become one of the signs 
of the nearness of Christ's second coming. And this pres- 
ent lawlessness will, unless checked, call down from heaven 
an equally severe judgment. 

Great judgments are but the punishment for great crimes; 
hence great crimes are but prophecies of coming judgment. 
Today the world is mad with covetousness and on fire with 
lust. Fearless and thoughtless men rush on their downward 
way, eating, drinking, feasting, rioting, marrying, and giving 
in marriage. They anticipate no calamity. The abodes of 
pleasure are thronged, the marts of merchandise crowded. 

The Careless Aspect of the World 

Is not this careless aspect of the world, this security so 
deep and dead, a token of impending wrath? Most cer- 
tainly did Christ, when He surveyed the future, perceive 
and foretell this very characteristic as a feature of the last 
days. 



Restlessness, Lawlessness, and Abounding Iniquity 67 

Careless and secure was the world before the flood. It 
despised all warning, invitation, and entreaty. It danced 
and rioted on the verge of destruction. And from pleasure's 
height to ruin's dark abyss it fell headlong. And that is 
given as a type of these present days. 

The world is fast becoming as it was in the days of Noah. 
Then the earth " was corrupt before God, and the earth was 
filled with violence." " And God saw that the wickedness 
of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination 
of the thoughts of his heart was only evii continually." 
Gen. 6 : 11, 5. So today it is corrupt, licentious, warlike. It 
is peopled with mighty men and men of renown, as it was 
then. And it is filled with strife, commotion, and violence 
while it awaits the coming of the deluge of fire, which will 
be the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men. 

The Deification of the Mob 

When the fearful sacrifice of the World War was stopped 
with the signing of the Armistice between the Allies and 
Germany, the world rejoiced. But this rejoicing has again 
been turned to fear by the menace of lawlessness and violence 
which has taken possession of myriads of hearts. This is 
the specter at the feast. It is this that poisons all earth's 
banquets. 

For lawlessness is a very real menace to the existence of 
civilization. It is the releasing of all the lowest passions of 
mankind, the setting free of the demons of lust, license, cru- 
elty, and passion. It is the deification of the mob, the exal- 
tation of all that is lowest to the place of power. 

The Bible, which is the Christian's guidebook, makes it 
clear that God has ordained civil government, without speci- 
fying any particular kind, and clothed it with authority to 
protect life, liberty, limb, and property, and to restrain evil- 
doers. It is ordained of God to protect every individual in 
his natural, God-given rights, against any invasion of these 
rights by any other man or body of men. 

Wickedness is in opposition to, and destructive of, all 
liberty. The murderer takes from his victim his liberty and 
his right to live. The right and liberty to use that which is 



68 Twelve Great Signs 

their own is taken from men by the thief. The liberties of 
all would therefore be destroyed if lawless men were per- 
mitted to do as they chose. Hence the necessity for stable and 
just civil government. 

Strong, stable civil government, founded on the princi- 
ples of liberty, is a great bulwark against anarchy and law- 
lessness, and necessary in order to maintain the freedom of 
the world. The duty, then, of every lover of liberty, and 
especially every Christian man and woman, is loyally to 
support constituted civil government, whatever its form, in 
its endeavor to maintain law and order. 

But the deliberate adoption of organized violence as the 
most effective way to right human wrongs; to kill; to burn; 
to wipe the slate clean; to rebuild civilization on new lines, 
— that is the spirit now taking possession of many. 

An Age of Moral Corruption 

We live in an age of moral corruption. Licentiousness 
of all kinds is appallingly prevalent. Our daily papers are 
filled with accounts of conjugal infidelity, lessons in which 
are being given to millions of young people in the moving- 
picture houses. Divorce is multiplying at an alarming rate, 
and this, too, indicates the great prevalence of licentiousness. 

Consulting with spirits leads many who are weak-minded 
and unprincipled to sink into lascivious rottenness, especially 
those who submit themselves, soul and body, to such control. 
They are led captive by Satan at his will. False religions 
cover with a thin veil of specious words and smooth phrases 
a mass of impurity. 

There is an immense traffic in impure literature and ob- 
scene pictures, which pander to the lower passions and out- 
rage all decency. 

There are newspapers which play up the rottenness their 
reporters can find, and display it to all the world. These 
papers dig down into the moral corruption of their cities; 
they feature the vile, the low, the degraded; they emphasize 
divorce and conjugal infidelity. And the alarming fact is 
that such papers, without principle or decency, have the 
largest circulation in many cities, 



Restlessness, Lawlessness, and Abounding Iniquity 69 

And these things here mentioned are merely the outcrop- 
pings of the gigantic evil which is swiftly destroying hu- 
manity. They are the straws that show the direction of the 
hurricane, the mere outer blotches that tell of the rotting 
virus which poisons the whole inward frame. 

The Increase of Crime 

Crime, too, is on an appalling increase. Judge Alfred J. 
Talley, of the Court of Special Sessions of New York County, 
at the recent induction ceremonies of a fellow judge, delib- 
erately made this striking statement : 

" This country is suffering under an indictment which proclaims it 
the most lawless on earth. You will find that the United States must 
plead guilty to that indictment. " 

Dr. Frederick L. Hoffman, consulting statistician of the 
Prudential Insurance Company of America, has, ever since 
1900, compiled the " homicide rate " for twenty-eight of the 
leading American cities. Speaking of the figures in his re- 
port for 1923, he says : 

" This is the most amazing murder record for any civilized country 
for which data are available. It indicates a state of affairs so startling 
and of such significance that no government, Federal or State, can right- 
fully ignore the situation. The murder rate has practically doubled in 
tw T enty-four years. It has shown a persistent upward trend, which may 
be accepted as a definite indication that the moral and legal forces 
opposed to wrongful death are yielding to the criminal and murderous 
instincts of a small but suggestive minority of the American people." 

The Special Committee on Law Enforcement of the 
American Bar Association, under the chairmanship of ex- 
Governor Charles S. Whitman, of New York, made, in 1923, 
a detailed report on crime in the United States. The com- 
mittee reported that 9,500 persons were killed in crimes of 
violence in the United States in 1921 alone. During the ten 
years preceding 1921, the committee stated that no less than 
85,000 people were killed. Every year in America more peo- 
ple lose their lives at the hands of criminals than were killed 
in the bloodiest engagement of the Civil War, the Battle of 
Gettysburg. Every five and a half years more people are 
killed in the everyday pursuits of life in this country than 
in the American ranks during the World War. 



70 Twelve Great Signs 

Just as striking are the property losses suffered through 
burglary and robbery, $302,800,000 being lost in this way 
every year in America. 

We confidently believe that these disorders and disturb- 
ances in the various nations of the earth today are precur- 
sors of the time when the Spirit of God shall be entirely 
withdrawn from the earth, and all the passions of the flesh 
shall be unrestrained. 

The leaders in the world of thought and statesmanship 
recognize the danger in the bitter feelings of envy and re- 
venge, and in the increase of class hatred. Clouds of evil 
presage hang low over the earth. All the elements which 
produced the French Revolution are ablaze in the hearts of 
men today, and that tragedy pales into insignificance in com- 
parison with the things which are yet to be seen unless there 
shall come a mighty turning to God, a repentance in dust 
and ashes, like Nineveh's. The future is dark with terrible 
menace for the inhabitants of the earth. It will not be long 
until the lightnings begin to flash and the storm will break, 
such a storm as this earth has never yet witnessed. 

The Spirit of Lawlessness 

The spirit of restlessness and lawlessness and anarchy 
seems not to be limited to any one place. The impulse to 
cast off the restraints which law and order have placed on 
the lower passions of men, is taking possession of human 
hearts everywhere. The terrible calamities, destructions, and 
desolations which wait upon the footsteps of the demon of 
lawlessness, seem powerless to deter men from their mad- 
dened course. The fiercer passions that rage in the natural 
human heart are being given free reign, and are driving 
men forward into a terrible abyss. The Spirit of God is 
apparently being gradually withdrawn from the earth, and 
men are being left alone with all the evil passions of their 
nature, with no power to restrain them from breaking out 
into the most outrageous and barbarous excesses. We see 
in this an ominous forecast of that fearful period just before 
us, when God's Spirit will no longer strive with man, and 



Restlessness, Lawlessness, and Abounding Iniquity 71 

the door of mercy will be closed. We are entering the shad- 
ows of the events which will close human history. We face 
the preparations for final conflict. We stand upon the verge 
of that time of trouble such as never was. 

The Spirit of Headlong Rashness 

There is a headlong rashness that is becoming more and 
more a characteristic of our time. Everything moves for- 
ward in startling haste. Prudence, wisdom, and caution are 
brushed aside as of little account. And this characteristic, 
this spirit of headlong, disorderly haste, of constant rest- 
lessness, of feverish rashness, is marked in the Bible as one 
of the signs of the last days. 

" This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
For men shall be . . . heady." 2 Tim. 3: 1-4. 

In the past the peoples of earth have, to a greater or less 
extent, feared the Lord. They have not been altogether 
atheistic. The denunciations by His messengers have caused 
them to tremble. When the streets of Nineveh rang with 
the cry, " Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown," 
none were so hardened as to treat that message with con- 
tempt. There have been other times when faith in God was 
weak, but unbelief was never more prevalent, impudent, and 
defiant than it is now. 

Today there is a widespread absence of faith in the ex- 
istence, the providence, and the government of a personal 
God. Men's ears have become dull of hearing, their hearts 
are waxed gross. They have passed beyond the feeling of 
alarm, so intrenched and fortified are they in unbelief and 
carelessness. There are multitudes who are practically athe- 
ists. God is not in all their thoughts. The exploded super- 
stitions of a past age have been replaced, not by faith, but 
by a false science, which has become the gospel of the faith- 
less ; and by nature, which has become the god of the ungodly. 

Drifting Toward Atheistic Apostasy 

Certainly it seems as if the world is drifting toward some 
dark, dire, devilish deception, a deception naturally awaiting 
those who receive not the love of the truth that they might 



72 Twelve Great Signs 

be saved. Throwing away their only safeguard when they 
reject divine truth, they are given up to embrace strong 
delusions as a punishment for their unbelief. 

Such a manifestation of atheistic apostasy is foreshad- 
owed in the Bible prophecies: 

" Even him ; whose coming is after the working of Satan with all 
power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deeeivableness of un- 
righteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love of 
the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall send 
them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all might 
be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unright- 
eousness." 2 Thess. 2 : 9-12. 

The eager acceptance of the " signs and l3 T ing wonders " 
of the present time by those who have rejected truth (their 
unbelief of the truth being paralleled only by their credu- 
lous acceptance of the falsehoods of seducing spirits), indi- 
cates that the ensnaring delusion predicted in the Bible is 
even now entrapping its victims. It may don new disguises 
and take on new shapes from day to day, but it is certain 
before long to combine its various manifestations in one 
mighty denial of the truth, of the Word, and of the author- 
ity of the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, hiss- 
ing out its defiance in the very face of God, and belching 
forth its blasphemies before His very throne. But atheism 
shall yet meet its answer in that devastating storm of fire 
which shall destroy the ungodly and cleanse the world. 

Peter gives us another sign of the last days when he 

writes : 

" Knowing this first, that there shall come in the last days scoffers, 
walking after their own lusts, and saying, Where is the promise of His 
coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they 
were from the beginning of the creation. For this they willingly are 
ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the 
earth standing out of the water and in the water: whereby the world 
that then was, being overflowed with water, perished: but the heavens 
and the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, 
reserved unto fire against the day of judgment and perdition of ungodly 
men." 2 Peter 3 : 3-7. 

There are scoffers today, — " scoffers walking after their 
own lusts," giving free reign to all their passions; scoffers 
with the blear of lust in their eyes and the smell of alcohol 
on their breath, walking in rioting, debauchery, and sin, as 



Restlessness, Lawlessness, and Abounding Iniquity 73 

well as scoffers who are polite, learned, wise, and contemptu- 
ous; scoffers who sneer and deride and mock; scoffers who 
are careless, contemptuous, presumptuous. And in this fact 
we see a fulfilment of Bible prophecy. 

In this time, when it appears as if the foundations of 
human society and civilization are crumbling, and the safe- 
guards which men have erected to restrain the evil propen- 




THE FLOOD "Come into the ark of safety, 

Come in and be saved today." 

sities are being destroyed, what ought the Christian pil- 
grim to do? The Lord Himself answers: 

" Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. . . . 
Be ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord 
draweth nigh." James 5:7, 8. 

" Surely He shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from 
the noisome pestilence. He shall cover thee with His feathers, and under 
His wings shalt thou trust: His truth shall be thy shield and buckler. 
Thou shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ; nor for the arrow that 
flieth by day; nor for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for 
the destruction that wasteth at noonday. A thousand shall fall at thy 
side, and ten thousand at thy right hand; but it shall not come nigh 
thee. Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the 
wicked. Because thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even 
the Most High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither 
shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For He shall give His angels 
charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." Ps. 91 : 3-11. 




:•■• _ : : ,.,v. : : ..; : v ,..«... 



P. & A. Photo t£rm 

" The cities of the nations fell : and 

AN ARTIST'S CONCEPTION OF NEW YORK great Babylon came in remem- 

CITY HIT BY AN EARTHQUAKE brance before God." Rev. 16:19. 

74 




THE LAST PRAYER 



THE SEVENTH SIGN — PESTILENCES, 

EARTHQUAKES, AND STORMS 

BY LAND AND SEA 

Among the signs spoken of by our Lord to precede His 

second coming, were the following: 

" There shall be . . . pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places." 
Matt. 24: 7. 

To this agree the words of Isaiah, who was shown in vi- 
sion the future day when " the Lord shall punish the host of 
the high ones that are on high, and the kings of the earth 
upon the earth." Isa. 24 : 21. In connection with the scenes 
of that day he said: 

" The earth is utterly broken down, the earth is clean dissolved, the 
earth is moved exceedingly. The earth shall reel to and fro like a drunk- 
ard, and shall be removed like a cottage; and the transgression thereof 
shall be heavy upon it; and it shall fall, and not rise again." Isa. 
24: 19, 20. 

Speaking of the same time, Ezekiel wrote : 

" All the men that are upon the face of the earth, shall shake at My 
presence, and the mountains shall be thrown down, and the steep places 

75 



76 Twelve Great Signs 

shall fall, and every wall shall fall to the ground. . . . And I will plead 
against him with pestilence and with blood; and I will rain upon him 
. . . an overflowing rain, and great hailstones, fire, and brimstone." 
Eze. 38 : 20-22. 

Joel, also, prophesied similarly of these great signs: 

" I will show wonders in the heavens and in the earth, blood, and 
fire, and pillars of smoke." Joel 2 : 30. 

Luke records the prophecy of Christ thus: 

" Great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pes- 
tilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven." 
Luke 21: 11. 

Prom these passages it is plain that evidences in the earth 

itself, which is represented as groaning and travailing in 

pain while waiting eagerly for its redemption, will be given 

of the approach of the end. 

Destructive Geological Convulsions 

Earthquakes and pestilences and destructive storms have 
rapidly increased in number and violence during recent 
years. 

"Fire, and hail; snow, and vapors; stormy wind fulfilling His word." 

Ps. 148: 8. 

These are constant reminders of the insecurity and un- 
stability of all earthly things. There is nothing quite so 
much calculated to solemnize the thoughts and compel se- 
rious consideration of the eternal things of God, as to have 
the solid earth tremble under one's feet, and witness the 
collapse of the works of human hands. This point is strongly 
presented by Dr. Samuel Kneeland, A. M., in his " Volcanoes 
and Earthquakes," page 207. He writes : 

" There is something preternaturally terrible in the earthquake, when 
the earth, which we think the emblem of solidity, trembles under our feet, 
and geological convulsions, the most destructive agents of the part, 
threaten us in the present. The sensation is so beyond experience, and 
the feeling of powerlessness so overwhelming, that amid the crash man 
looks hopelessly around, and can simply bow the head in silent, motion- 
less despair, as if expecting every moment to be buried in the ruins. 
With the cries and groans of the terrified people in the houses and in the 
streets, are heard the dull sounds of falling buildings, and appalling 
subterranean rumblings, and the thoughts of all are turned, where they 
always are instinctively in times of unexpected, inexplicable disaster, 
Godward. When the earth is thus moved by invisible hands, each 
moment seems a year, and as when death appears suddenly imminent, 
the events of a lifetime pass in an instant before the eyes of the soul. 



Pestilences, Earthquakes, and Storms 77 

It is a novel and a terrifying sight to behold houses reel like a drunken 
man, as the earth waves reach them; it is more like the disturbed 
dreams of fever, or the scenic display of the drama, than any concep- 
tion of reality." 

The Most Destructive Earthquakes 

A list of all earthquakes from 577 a. d. to the present 
time, not including the most destructive of all, the Japanese 
earthquake of September 1, 1923, in which about 300,000 
lives were lost, as given by the New York Tribune, show; 
a loss in the thirty-one disasters listed, of 1,328,000 human 
lives. The list is as follows : 

PLACE YEAR NO. KILLED 

Constantinople 577 10,000 

Catania 1137 15,000 

Syria 1158 20,000 

Silicia 1268 60,000 

Naples 1456 40,000 

Lisbon 1531 30,000 

Naples 1626 70,000 

Vesuvius 1631 18,000 

Calabria 1638 10,000 

Sehamaki 1667 80,000 

Sicily 1693 100,000 

Yeddo 1703 190,000 

Algiers 1716 18,000 

Peking 1731 96,000 

Lima and Callao 1746 18,000 

Cairo 1754 40,000 

Kashue (Persia) 1755 40,000 

Lisbon 1755 50,000 

Syria L 1759 20,000 

Central America 1797 40,000 

Aleppo 1822 20,000 

Calabria ..... 1857 10,000 

San Jose de Cucuta, Colombia 1875 14,000 

Krakatao (Strait of Sunda) 1883 36,000 

Island of Hondo, Japan 1891 10,000 

Sanriku, Japan 1896 27,000 

Martinique and St. Vincent 1902 40,000 

Messina and fifty-four towns in Italy 1908 164,000 

Central Italy 1914 12,000 

Central Java 1919 10,000 

Persia 1923 20,000 

A Most Striking Increase of Earthquakes 

In fulfilment of this prophecy given by Christ, statistics 
issued by the British Association for the Advancement of 
Science reveal that there has been, during* century after 



78 



Twelve Great Signs 



century of the Christian era, a most striking increase of de- 
structive earthquakes. Not including small earthquakes, but 
only those which have caused destruction of life and prop- 
erty, these statistics give the number of destructive earth- 
quakes from the first to the twentieth century. Beginning 
with fifteen in the first century, there is shown a gradual 




AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE IN JAPAN 



increase to 115 in the thirteenth century 
the list is as follows : 



From that time 



Fourteenth century 137 

Fifteenth 

Sixteenth 

Seventeenth 

Eighteenth 

Nineteenth 



174 
253 
378 
640 
2,119 



Certainly these figures bear out the prophecy of our Lord. 
And they do not include the frightfully destructive earth- 
quakes of this present century, such as those of San Fran- 
cisco and Japan. 

Precursors of the Great Storm of God's Wrath 

Storms of extraordinarily destructive power, — tempests, 
hurricanes, tornadoes, cyclones, " the sea and the waves roar- 



Pestilences, Earthquakes, and Storms 79 

ing " (Luke 21:25), — all these are becoming more common 
and more severe. They fulfil God's word, and are precursors 
of that great storm of His wrath which will close human 
history. 

Pestilences, waiting on the footsteps of famine, have also 
increased, and have become one of the sources of acute dis- 
tress to great populations. The epidemic of Spanish influ- 
enza, a few years ago, slew millions of people. Typhus fever 
and other plagues periodically carry off other millions, some- 
times in China, sometimes in Russia, sometimes in other 
countries. No advance of civilization, no development of 
science, seems to be able to prevent the occurrence of 
these terrible epidemics, even in the most highly developed 
countries. 

And in all these things we see the fulfilment in our own 

day of the prophecies of Christ and His Word, and we want 

to learn from them the lesson that they are designed to teach, 

that lesson spoken of by Jesus when He said: 

" So, likewise ye, when ye see these things come to pass, know ye 
that the kingdom of God is at hand/' Luke 21: 31. 

John Biddolph, in a poem on the Lisbon earthquake, 
written in 1755, said : 

" Who can with curious eyes this globe survey, 
And not behold it tottering with decay? 
All things created, God's designs fulfil, 
And natural causes work His destined will. 
And that eternal Word, which cannot lie, 
To mortals hath revealed in prophecy 
That in these latter days such signs should come, 
Preludes and prologues to the general doom. 
But not the Son of man can tell that day; 
Then, lest it find you sleeping, watch and pray." 




THE RICH MAN 



"Thou fool, this nigh"! thy 
soul shall be required of 
thee." Luke 12:20. 




THE MISER 
80 



He tieapeth up riches, and 
knoweth not who shall 
gather them." Ps. 39:6. 




LABOR UNIONS CROSSING LONDON BRIDGE 

THE EIGHTH SIGN — CAPITAL AND 

LABOR 



Arising from another direction than the signs already 

discussed, there is additional trouble in prospect for the 

inhabitants of this world in the bitter relations existing and 

growing ever more acute in the situation between capital 

and labor. This situation is also a subject of Bible prophecy. 

This is the prophecy: 

" Go to now, ye rich men, weep and howl for your miseries that shall 
come upon you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are 
moth-eaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the rust of them 
shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. 
Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days. Behold, the hire of 
the laborers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept 
back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are 
entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth. Ye have lived in pleasure 
on the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a 
day of slaughter. Ye have condemned and killed the just; and he doth 
not resist you." James 5: 1-6. 

Unparalleled Heaping Together of Riches 

From this passage it is clear that " the last days " are 
to be marked by an unparalleled heaping together of wealth 

e 81 



82 Twelve Great Signs 

and treasure. Men then were to amass wealth as never be- 
fore in the history of the race. This wealth in some part 
was to be amassed unjustly, unfairly, by defrauding " the 
laborers who have reaped down your fields," or in other 
words, who are producing the wealth of the world. These 
laborers were to be treated wrongfully. " Ye have con- 
demned and killed the just." The wealth thus gathered was 
to be used for " pleasure " and wantonness. And all this is 
with reference to " the last days." 

To this agrees the prophecy of Paul: 

" This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
For men shall be . . . covetous." 2 Tim. 3.1, 2. 

Covetousness is a discontented, unsatisfied, grasping desire 
for the things of this world. It will especially characterize 
" the last days." It "will lead men to practise all manner of 
injustice in order to pile up the gains of dishonesty. 

This is the age pointed to in the prophetic picture. Never 
before in human history have such vast accumulations of 
wealth been known as today. Never before has there been 
such a mad rush to make money quickly. The millionaire 
and the multimillionaire are much in evidence today. There 
are colossal fortunes, some reaching the billion mark. There 
is an unprecedented hoarding of treasures. There are un- 
paralleled accumulations and combinations of capital. 

Increase of Poverty 

And on the other hand, there has been a remarkable 
increase in poverty. The wealth of the world cannot be 
gathered into a few hands without producing want, suffer- 
ing, and misery among myriads. And many of those who 
are the beneficiaries of the hoarded wealth are indifferent 
to these sufferings. " Ye have lived in pleasure on the earth, 
and been wanton." With no thought of their responsibility 
to their fellow men, they live only for the good time they 
can obtain for themselves. Nothing is quite so rapacious 
and heartless as greed and covetousness. The rights of oth- 
ers are disregarded, the welfare and sometimes even the lives 
of men are given no consideration when merciless schemes 
and intrigues can be made to yield large profits. 



Capital and Labor 83 

Formation of Labor Unions 

Hence the laboring men, in order to obtain rights which 
are not voluntarily accorded them, and to secure an adequate 
return for their labor, are compelled to organize to protect 
themselves. This they do by forming labor unions, with re- 
sulting strikes, boycotts, and lockouts. Labor is organized. 
Capital is organized. And they are locked in a titanic 
struggle for the supremacy. Never before was labor so pow- 
erful as it is today. Never before was organized capital so 
gigantic. And each grows stronger daily. Certainly this is 
one of the factors which, together with international, inter- 
racial, and interreligious hatred, will bring all the world 
ultimately — and before long — to Armageddon. 

The Onrushing Armageddon 

God's people, to whom these things constitute a sign of 

the times, should stand apart from all this maneuvering for 

place in the onrushing Armageddon. They have no part in 

these combinations and federations. God's counsel to them 

is this : 

" Say ye not, A confederacy, to all them to whom this people shall 
say, A confederacy; neither fear ye their fear, nor be afraid." Isa. 
8: 12. 

Instead of being afraid of man or the strength of man, 

God says to His people: 

" Sanctify the Lord of hosts Himself ; and let Him be your fear, and 
let Him be your dread." Verse 13. 

" The Coming of the Lord Draweth Nigh " 

The people of God have no need to fear at this time, 

even when they be ground between the upper and nether 

millstones of capital and labor. God is their refuge, and for 

just such a time as this He gives this word of counsel : 

" Be patient therefore, brethren, unto the coming of the Lord. Be- 
hold, the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth, and 
hath long patience for it, until he receive the early and latter rain. Be 
ye also patient; stablish your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draw- 
eth nigh." James 5:7, 8. 

Yes, " the coming of the Lord draweth nigh." That is 

the meaning of these developments that we see on every 

hand. And the time of the deliverance of God's people is 

nearly here. 




THE WORLD'S MAD STRUGGLE 



THE NINTH SIGN — DISTRESS OF NATIONS 
WITH PERPLEXITY 



The stern, grim, terrible realities of blood await the 
world. The war of the great day rolls in upon mankind. 
And the fear of the future poisons all earth's banquets, stalks 
as a specter at every feast, and causes men's hearts to fail 
for fear. 

Perilous times have come. Volcanic forces are seething 
and surging beneath our feet. The deep foundations of the 
world are being convulsed. But serious as these things are, 
men of clear-eyed vision and wide information see in them 
portents of still more perilous times to come. These are only 
the mutterings of the coming tempest, the tremblings of the 
coming earthquake, the eddies of the approaching whirl- 
wind, the grating of the thunder of the rushing avalanche 
of ruin that overhangs the world. And thinking men are 
afraid. 

This distress of nations, resulting in perplexity and fear, 
constitutes one more of the great signs of the times. Jesus 
said: 

84 






Distress of Nations With Perplexity 85 

" There shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars ; 
and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ; the sea and the 
waves roaring; men's hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after 
those things which are coming on the earth : for the powers of heaven 
shall be shaken. And then shall they see the Son of man coming in a 
cloud with power and great glory. And when these things begin to come 
to pass, then look up, and lift up your heads; for vour redemption 
draweth nigh." Luke 21 : 25-28. 

Wandering Blindly in Darkness 

Above all other times, there is distress of nations today. 
Everywhere in the world, among all ranks and classes of 
men, there is distress. And there is increasing distress in 
the relations of nations to one another. Torn by donbt and 
unbelief, its old established faiths shaken to their founda- 
tions, the world, grown old and cold and weary, is distressed 
and utterly distraught, war-stricken and disillusioned, and 
is now wandering blindly in darkness, crying for light and 
leadership, but finding neither. 

A great part of this distress is the aftermath of the 
World War. Another considerable part is due to feverish 
preparations being made for the next world war. 

Fuel for Another World Conflagration 

The peace which was signed at Versailles has not been 
a real peace. It did not remove the seeds of strife. It did 
not blot out national animosities and jealousies. It did not 
quench the smoldering fires of hatred and bitterness. It left 
many questions unsettled and undecided. 

It takes more than a treaty of peace, more than a League 
of Nations, more than a Dawes plan, to remove hatred from 
the human heart. The war wrought horrors on an unprece- 
dented scale; it covered w T ide fields with corpses; it soaked 
long trenches and broad acres with blood; it brought piti- 
less exposure to merciless winter to millions; it caused ter- 
rible suffering; it imposed unspeakable wretchedness and 
misery upon women and children ; it mangled thousands upon 
thousands of human bodies; it rent great ships asunder; it 
rained explosives from the clouds; it ruined cities; it laid 
waste great areas of fruitful fields; it destroyed fair fruit 
trees and happy homes; it blasted the productiveness of the 



86 Twelve Great Signs 

soil; and it sowed the earth with the graves of the dead. It 
will take more than a peace treaty to blot the memory of 
these things from human minds and hearts. And out of 
this memory grow bitterness, hostility, malice, hatred — and 
fear; all the elements to provide the fuel for another world 
conflagration. 

Unemployment 

Hundreds of billions of the world's wealth were consumed 
in the "World War, resulting in the greatest national debts 
ever known. Millions of men were thrown out of work, and 
unemployment has become one of the serious problems of the 
world, and is the source of acute distress. The statesmen of 
the world look with apprehension upon this growing unem- 
ployment problem, and are able to provide only temporary 
relief. Want and suffering stalk about among the poor, and 
sow the seeds of revolt and lawlessness. 

High Cost of Living 

High prices bring additional perplexity and distress. 
Everywhere in the world, prices on all commodities have 
mounted, especially on the necessities of life, until the cost 
of living is far higher than ever before. The poor are con- 
fronted with a gigantic problem to know how to provide 
enough food to maintain life. The elements of food which 
are essential to life and health are getting beyond the reach 
of many. One by one the more nourishing foods are relin- 
quished, and an effort is made to maintain health and 
strength on an impoverished diet. Multitudes are under- 
nourished. 

Pestilences and Epidemics 

And as pestilences and epidemics follow closely in the 
wake of hunger and want, so sickness due to undernourish- 
ment is carrying off great numbers of people. This condi- 
tion is not limited to any one country, but seems to be world- 
wide. In many places there is a scarcity of foodstuffs, and 
in other places where there is more food, prices are so high 
as to place a proper supply of food within the reach of a 
comparative few. Such conditions breed distress and per- 
plexity. 



Distress of Nations With Perplexity 87 

Taxation and Depreciation of Money 

Making this condition still more acute are two other fac- 
tors, — taxation and the depreciation of currency. Taxes 
have mounted to unprecedented heights. There is a load of 
taxation on the populations of the world today such as has 
never before been known. And to pay these taxes, and at 
the same time sustain life, there is an inflated currency, the 
value of which is greatly diminished. 

The effect of the World War has been felt everywhere 
in the depreciation of money values. Some countries have 
suffered more than others, having the value of their currency 
wiped out, but all countries have been affected — and dis- 
tressed. And there seems very little prospect that prices will 
be materially lowered, that taxes will be greatly diminished, 
or that currency values will ever be fully restored. The world 
has received a grievous hurt, from which it is unlikely ever 
entirely to recover. 

The Revolt Against Civilization 

Growing out of these conditions which make the mainte- 
nance of life increasingly difficult, is what has been termed, 
" The Revolt Against Civilization." Everywhere, in all na- 
tions, there is a movement on among the lower classes, seek- 
ing to change the existing order of things, to discard all gov- 
ernmental forms, to abolish established customs, to cast off 
the restraints that civilization has imposed. There is an 
upheaval in the lower strata of society which may result in 
a change of position and a shifting of places, the lower strata 
becoming the upper, and the upper becoming submerged — 
or worse. 

Lothrop Stoddard, A. M., Ph. D., has written a book, 
" The Revolt Against Civilization/' in which he comments as 
follows on this possibility: 

" These . feelings [of the nnder-man of discontent and opposition to 
civilization], of course, vary all the way from dull, unreasoning dislike 
to flaming hatred and rebellion. But in the last analysis, they are di- 
rected not merely against imperfections in the social order, but agamst 
the social order itself. 

" This is a point which is rarely mentioned, and still more rarely 
understood. Yet it is the meat of the whole matter. We must realize 



88 Twelve Great Signs 

clearly that the basic attitude of the Under-Man is an instinctive and 
natural revolt against civilization. . . . Civilization automatically evolves 
strong social controls which keep down the antisocial elements. . . . Des- 
perate individuals, of course, break forth into crime, but society hunts 
them down and eliminates them by prison and the scaffold. 

" The Under-Man may thus be controlled. But he remains ; he mul- 
tiplies; he bides his time. And now and then his time comes. When a 
civilization falters beneath its own weight and by the decay of its human 
foundations; when its structure is shaken by the storms of war, dissen- 
sion, or calamity; then the long-repressed forces of atavistic revolt 
gather themselves together for a spring." — Pages 24, 25. 

Society's Dregs Boiling to the Top 

Mr. Stoddard describes the progress of such a revolu- 
tion as if it were actually transpiring. From his evolution- 
ary statements we must, of course, dissent. Thus he con- 
tinues : 

" The social revolution is now in full swing. Such upheavals are pro- 
foundly terrible. . . . Not only is society in the grip of its barbarians, 
but every individual falls more or less under the sway of his own lower 
instincts. For in this respect the individual is like society. Each of 
us has within him an l Under-Man/ that primitive animality which is the 
heritage of our human, and even our prehuman, past. This Under-Man 
may be buried deep in the recesses of our being: but he is there, and 
psychoanalysis informs us of his latent power. This primitive animality, 
potentially present even in the noblest natures, continuously dominates 
the lower social strata, especially the pauper, criminal, and degenerate 
elements — civilization's ' inner barbarians/ Now, when society's dregs 
boil to the top, a similar process takes place in individuals, to whatever 
social level they may belong. In virtually every member of the com- 
munity there is a distinct resurgence of the brute and the savage, and 
the atavistic trend thus becomes practically universal. 

" This explains most of the seemingly mysterious phenomena of rev- 
olution. It accounts for the mental contagion which infects all classes; 
the wild elation with which the revolution is first hailed; the way in 
which even well-poised men throw themselves into the stream, let it 
carry them whither it lists, and commit acts which they afterward not 
only cannot explain but cannot even remember. General atavistic resur- 
gence also accounts for the ferocious temper displayed, not merely by 
the revolutionists, but by their counter-revolutionary opponents as well. 
However much they may differ in their principles, ■ Beds 7 and • Whites ' 
display the same savage spirit and commit similar cruelties. This is 
because society and the individual have been alike rebarbarized." — 
Pages 27, 28. 

Changing " atavism " here to " fallen nature," we would 
let this description stand as an accurate picture of the pos- 
sibilities inhering in the conditions now existing in the world. 
Certainly men, because of the " distress of nations with per- 



Distress of Nations With Perplexity 89 

plexity," have cause for fear when " looking after those things 
which are coming on the earth." 

Political Ferment Among the Nations 

This upheaval manifests itself particularly in the political 
ferment among and in the nations. There is a clash of par- 
ties, groups, classes, races, and creeds. Everywhere there 
is social discontent, and the formation of parties and party 
machinery to change the existing order of things. Govern- 
ments are insecure today — all governments. There is noth- 
ing stable. Thrones and empires have crashed into the dust. 
Crowned heads are falling. Governmental structures are tot- 
tering. Socialism, anarchism, syndicalism, communism, are 
the vogue as never before. They strain their eyes to catch 
the first rays of the " red dawn." Revolt is in the very 
air. It penetrates everywhere. Young and old are carried 
away with a desire for a " freedom " which is only license. 
It manifests itself in the dress, in the speech, in the con- 
duct, in all human contact. All the restraints imposed by 
law, religion, custom, or even ordinary politeness, are being 
cast aside as outworn, and free rein is being given to every 
impulse and passion. In the state, in the church, and in the 
home, this spirit of independence is manifesting itself, cor- 
rupting all the finer things of life, and calling for the storm 
of God's wrath to be visited upon an impenitent world. 

" Distress of nations, with perplexity," is one of the out- 
standing signs of our Lord's soon return. 




A SPIRITUALISTIC MEDIUM 
HOLDING A SEANCE 

90 



" If they shall say unto you, . . . Behold 
He is in the secret chambers ; believe 
it not." Matt. 24:26. 




HOME OF THE FOX FAMILY, 
HYDESVILLE, N. Y. 



Modern Spiritualism originated 
in this house, March 31, 1848. 



THE TENTH SIGN — SPIRITUALISM 



Sufficiently grave, indeed, are the possibilities of dis- 
aster and distress already discussed. But more must be 
added. If men were left alone in their work of rebellion, 
lawlessness, and destruction, it would be bad enough. But 
men are not alone. Joined with them in this work of self- 
destruction are demon spirits, bent wholly on completing the 
work of human deception and ruin. 

The appearance and work and development of Spirit- 
ualism, more accurately Spiritism, is another outstanding 
sign of the Lord's coming. 

Paul foretold the appearance of this movement, and ac- 
curately described its character. He wrote ; 

" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
shall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doc- 
trines of devils; speaking lies in hypocrisy; having their conscience 
seared with a hot iron." 1 Tim. 4: 1, 2. 

" Seducing spirits " are to work " in the latter times." 
This will constitute a departure " from the faith." It will 
teach " doctrines of devils," 

91 



;92 Twelve Great Signs 

A Pretended Miracle-Working Power 

Jesus, in His answer to the disciples' inquiry about the 
signs of His second coming, said: 

"There shall arise false Christs, and false prophets, and shall show 
great signs and wonders; insomuch that, if it were possible, they shall 
deceive the very elect." Matt. 24: 24. 

One of the evidences, then, of the nearness of the end 
will be a miracle-working power, pretending to speak for 
Christ and in His name, professing to be religious, but which 
is essentially deceptive and untrue. Its sole purpose is to 
deceive, and those who are not of the very elect will be car- 
ried away by its delusions. 

Paul again spoke of this sign when he wrote : 

" Then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume 
with the spirit of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of 
His coming: even him, whose coming is after the working of Satan with 
all power and signs and lying wonders, and with all deceivableness of 
unrighteousness in them that perish; because they received not the love 
of the truth, that they might be saved. And for this cause God shall 
send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: that they all 
might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in un- 
righteousness." 2 Thess. 2 : 8-12. 

Here is forecast a system, appearing just before Christ's 
second coming, which will, using " all power and signs and 
lying wonders/' work " with all deceivableness of unright- 
eousness," bringing " strong delusion " to those who " believed 
not the truth," but the end of which will be that the Lord, 
when He comes, " shall consume with the spirit of His mouth, 
and shall destroy with the brightness of His coming." 

" Power and Signs and Lying Wonders " 

Spiritualism fulfils these prophecies. Making its appear- 
ance, in modern times, in 1848, in Hydesville, N. Y., in what 
was called the " rapping delusion," it has developed through 
the years since then until today it is attracting the attention 
of the world. It is hailed by some as " The New Revelation." 
Tens of thousands have accepted it as a genuine system of 
religion, and have turned to it for solace and comfort in 
bereavement. Connected with it is a body of phenomena 
which the Bible accurately describes as " power and signs 
and lying wonders," ranging all the way from the most prim- 



Spiritualism 93 

itive rapping, through table tipping, slate writing, and ouija 
boards, to the materialization of spirits and spirit photog- 
raphy. 

Books by the score and hundred have been, and are, 
coming from the press, teaching the doctrines of Spiritual 
ism. The daily press and the magazines are filled with its 
claims, its pretensions, its teachings, and accounts of its- 
phenomena. It has its prominent and well-known spokes- 
men, who describe its workings to great audiences. And 
multitudes of mediums ply their trade throughout all lands. 

A Revival of Ancient Witchcraft 

Spiritualism is not of God. It is only a revival, in a 
modern guise, of the condemned and prohibited sorcery, 
wizardry, witchcraft, and necromancy of old. Its teaching 
is falsehood, its claims are untrue, its miracles are frauds, 
its pretenses are lies, its religion is hypocrisy, its influence 
is a menace to life and sanity, its tendency is toward evil 
and death, its power is of the devil, and its appearance now T 
is a sign of the times, and a fulfilment of Bible prophecy. 

Spiritualism is not, as it would like to have its dupes 
believe, a new development. It is old, as old as sin, as old 
as Satan. The first spirit medium was the serpent in the 
garden of Eden. 

God prohibited and condemned Spiritualism in ancient 

Israel. He said: 

" Regard not them that have familiar spirits, neither seek after wiz- 
ards, to be denied by them: I am the Lord your God." Lev. 19: 31. 

God's own appointed penalty for mediumship anciently 

was death. . 

" A man also or woman that hath a familiar spirit, or that is a 
wizard, shall surely be put to death: they shall stone them with stones: 
their blood shall be upon them.'- Lev. 20 : 27. 

Those who trifle with Spiritualism are playing with death. 

An Abomination to God 

Consulting with familiar spirits now is no more pleasing 
to God than it was in ancient times. He declared it to be 
an abomination. 



94 Twelve Great Signs 

61 There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son 
or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an 
observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch, or a charmer, or a con- 
suiter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer. For all that 
do these things are an abomination unto the Lord: and because of these 
abominations the Lord thy God doth drive them out from before thee." 
Deut. 18: 10-12. 

In the New Testament, Spiritualism, under its older and 

more accurate name of " witchcraft," is classed with all 

other works of the flesh. 

" Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these : Adultery, 
fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, va- 
riance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, 
drunkenness, revelings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as 
I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God." Gal. 5: 19-21. 

Excluded from God's coming kingdom are those who prac- 
tise Spiritualism. 

" Without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, 
and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie." Eev. 22: 15. 

Its False Teachings 

The teachings of Spiritualism are false. They contra- 
dict God's Word. 

Spiritualism teaches that man is immortal. The Bible 

declares God alone to be immortal. 

" Which in His times He shall show, who is the blessed and only Po- 
tentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immor- 
tality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto ; whom no 
man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and power everlasting." 
1 Tim. 6: 15, 16. 

Man is said in the Scriptures to be altogether finite and 

mortal. 

" Shall mortal man be more just than God? shall a man be more 
pure than his Maker?" Job 4: 17. 

Spiritualism declares man to be conscious in death, and 

claims to provide a way of communication between the dead 

and the living. This claim the Bible overthrows and utterly 

demolishes by proving man to be unconscious in death. His 

ability to think and reason, his intellectual powers, come to 

an end with death. 

" Put not your trust in princes, nor in the son of man, in whom there 
is no help. His breath goeth forth, he returneth to his earth; in that 
very day his thoughts perish." Ps. 146: 3, 4. 



Spiritualism 95 

" In death there is no remembrance of Thee : in the grave who shall 
give Thee thanks?" Ps. 6: 5. 

" The dead praise not the Lord, neither any that go down into si- 
lence." Ps. 115 : 17. 

The State of the Dead 

Death brings a complete cessation of conscious existence. 

" The living know that they shall die : but the dead know not any- 
thing, neither have they any more a reward; for the memory of them 
is forgotten. Also their love, and their hatred, and their envy, is now 
perished; neither have they any more a portion forever in anything that 
is done under the sun." Eccl. 9:5, 6. 

A study of the following Scripture passages, here merely 
cited, will disclose that — 

The dead are not in heaven: John 3: 13; 7: 33, 34; 8: 21; 13: 33; 
Acts 2 : 34. 

They are not in hell-fire: Job 21: 30; 2 Peter 2: 9. 

They are in their graves : John 5 : 28, 29 ; Acts 2 : 29. 

They are all, both righteous and wicked, in one place: Eccl. 3: 20. 

They are asleep in the dust : Gen. 3:19; Dan. 12:2; Ps. 22:15; 
Job 7: 21. 

The grave is a place of silence, of darkness, of repose: Job 3: 11-19; 
10: 21, 22; Ps. 88: 12; Eccl. 9: 10. 

The dead are asleep, unconscious: Deut. 31:16; 2 Sam. 7:12; 1 
Kings 2: 10; 11: 21, 43; 2 Chron. 9: 31; 2 Kings 20: 21; 2 Chron. 32: 
33; 26:23; Job 3:13; 7:21; 14:21; Ps. 76:5; Matt, 27:52; Acts 
7:60; 13:36; 1 Cor. 15:6, 18, 20, 51; 1 Thess. 5:10; 2 Peter 3:4. 

The dead exercise no mental powers, and praise not the Lord: Ps. 
6:5; 88:10-12; 115:17; 146:3, 4; Eccl. 9:6; Isa. 38:18, 19; Job 
14: 12. 

The dead know not anything: Eccl. 9:5, 6, 10; Job 14:21; Isa. 
63 : 16. 

Nothing that has been said here is to be construed as 
meaning that " death ends all." Death does not end all. 
There is to be a resurrection from the dead. There is to be 
a future life. What is meant here is that the teaching of 
the Bible is to the effect that this future life begins, not at 
death, but at the resurrection from the dead. Between death 
and the resurrection there is unconsciousness and sleep. 

And this truth, made so plain in the Bible, utterly de- 
stroys the whole foundation and structure of Spiritualism, 
which teaches the conscious state of the dead. The Bible 
and Spiritualism are opposites. To believe one is to reject 
the other. 



96 Twelve Great Signs 

Phenomena the Work of Demons 

The so-called miracles of Spiritualism are performed by 
fallen angels. The phenomena of this false system are the 
work of demons. The pretended spirits of the dead are the 
spirits of demons masquerading as the spirits of the dead. 
The wisdom manifested in Spiritualism's pretended commu- 
nications is that wisdom which " descendeth not from above, 
but is earthly, sensual, devilish.". James 3 : 15. 

There is a higher order of created intelligence than man- 
kind, called angels. 

"What is man, that Thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, 
that Thou visitest him? For Thou hast made him a little lower than 
the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honor." Ps. 8: 4 ; 5. 

Some of these angels " kept not their first estate, but left 
their own habitation." Jude 6. 

Of these wandering spirits we have the record that " God 
spared not the angels that sinned." 2 Peter 2 : 4. 

There was warfare among the angels, rebellion against 
God, a break with the divine government, and exclusion from 
heaven. (See Rev. 12:7-9.) 

It is these fallen angels w r ho impersonate the dead, dis- 
guise themselves as spirits of the dead, speak in the name 
of the dead, give out information as from the dead, perform 
signs and lying wonders, and work all the phenomena of 
Spiritualism. Their sole purpose is to deceive unwary souls, 
and lead them to eternal destruction. 

The Bible the Only Protection 

The Scriptures of Truth show to be false the revelations 
made by Satan and his angels through spirit mediums. Our 
only protection against the lying claims of this latter-day 
delusion is the Bible. It solves forever the dark problem of 
death. It lights a lamp of hope for the weary and heavy 
laden. It gives assurance of life beyond the grave. It 
strengthens those who mourn, comforts the bereaved, and 
points forward to a better, brighter day, the beginning of 
which is near at hand. 

Satan is sweeping the whole world into his delusions. 
By Spiritualism, the work of demoniac spirits, he is prepar- 



Spiritualism 



97 



ing the world for Armageddon and the terrible scenes which 

will end human history. It is the " spirits of devils " which 

gather the nations to the last war. 

" They are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go forth 
unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather them to 
the battle of that great day of God Almighty." " And he gathered them 
together into a place called in the Hebrew tongue Armageddon." Rev. 
16: 14, 16. 

And so Spiritualism is one of the greatest of the signs 
of the times, and one of the factors contributing the most to 
the " distress of nations with perplexity/' 




fvypityr xru*wtx> y put? ftuwum, 



OVUA SOARD AND PLANCHETTE 

ine pi dure above is shown Ihe ouija board on 
wnicn 13 prinled (ht alpha W an J Ine names o? Ihe 
dead people wim whom Ihe silkrs desire lo cora- 
municak The pianchette moves upon ihis toard and 
wiih is poinler spells oul words and point io Dames. 

The smaller piclare below represen 
wrihnA planckeHe 



T 



\sihe 




LOT FLEEING FROM SODOM 



" In the last days 
perilous times shall 
come." 2 Tim. 3 : 1. 



THE ELEVENTH SIGN — THE PREVAILING 
UNBELIEF IN THE CHURCH 



The world has made astonishing progress in material 
things, in scientific discovery, in general knowledge, in edu- 
cational facilities, in manufacturing ability, in modes of 
travel and transportation. But it has not correspondingly 
advanced morally or spiritually. Men are not nobler and 
more honorable than they were. Women are not purer and 
more modest. Children are not better behaved and more 
respectful. 

It is true. that the world is better off than it has been. 
It is more highly civilized, but it is not better. It has many 
material blessings that it never had before. But it is farther 
from God than ever. 

Men preach that the world has become better and better. 
But they preach error. They mistake civilization and re- 
spectability for Christianity. That is their idea. It is not 
a Bible doctrine. Jesus said, 

98 



The Prevailing Unbelief in the Church 99 

"As it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of 
the Son of man." Luke 17 : 26. 

The condition of the world just prior to the flood is a 
picture of it before the coming of the Lord. The people 
had gone downward rather than upward, had become worse 
rather than better, lower rather than higher, more debased 
and bestial rather than more refined and spiritual. Instead 
of being nearer to God, they were farther away. Indeed, 
they had become so excessively vile and corrupt that God 
swept them out of existence with the deluge. 

So " evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse " 
" in the last days." 2 Tim. 3 : 13, 1. 

Wiser, but Not Better 

It is surprising that otherwise intelligent men are deceived 
into believing that improvement in material prosperity and 
general intelligence is the same as an increase in moral good- 
ness. And yet men are deceived. It is not uncommon to 
hear a preacher or a public speaker declare that the world 
has grown better, and then try to support his contention by 
pointing to the conveniences and comforts which this age 
has produced. They point to the progression of the race, the 
increase of knowledge, the improvement of living conditions. 
All of this we admit, and admitting it, still contend that 
knowledge is not righteousness, that respectability is not 
spirituality. The race has grown wiser, but not better. 

There is progress indeed, but not toward God, — prog- 
ress in military science, in manufacturing, in wealth, in com- 
merce, in invention, in material things ; but the progress of 
the world morally is toward perdition. For while the world 
has been progressing in material wealth, it has been pro- 
gressing also in moral poverty ; while there has been progres- 
sion in material power, there has been an equal progression 
in moral weakness ; while men have made progress in material 
greatness, they have made similar progress in moral littleness. 

Departure From the Old Standards 

One of the great signs of our Lord's return is the de- 
parture, everywhere manifest today, from the old standards 
of morality, faith, and righteousness. 



100 Twelve Great Signs 

Jesus spoke of this departure from the faith when He 

asked : 

"When the Son of man eometh, shall He find faith on the earth?" 
Luke 18 : 8. 

That the last days would be especially marked by apos- 
tasy and unbelief among professed Christians, is made very 
plain in the prophecies of the Bible regarding Christ's sec- 
ond coming. The Spirit of God gave special emphasis to 
this development. Paul w T rote : 

" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some 
shall depart from the faith." 1 Tim. 4: 1. 

Here is shown a departure from the true faith instead 
of obedience to it. Again Paul wrote : 

" The time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine ; but 
after their own lusts shall they heap to themselves teachers, having itch- 
ing ears; and they shall turn away their ears from the truth, and shall 
be turned unto fables." 2 Tim. 4: 3, 4. 

The last days, then, are to be marked by a turning away 
from true gospel salvation, to a false hope, away from sound 
doctrine to fables. 

Peter wrote : 

" Tli ere shall come in the last days scoffers." 2 Peter 3:3. 

The Saviour Himself listed among the signs of His return 

the same departure from the faith. He said, 

" Because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold." 
Matt. 24: 12. 

Iniquity will abound in the last days among all grades 
of society, not only in the world, but in the church. It will 
become so abundant, will so abound, that the love which 
many had for God and truth will grow cold, and they will 
turn away their hearts and lives, and will mingle in the 
iniquity and frivolity of the worldly ones. 

Departure From the Faith 

Paul wrote again of this departure from the faith, when 

he said : 

" This know also, that in the last days perilous times shall come. 
For men shall be lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters, proud, 
blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, without natural 
affection, trucebreakers, false accusers, incontinent, fierce, despisers of 



The Prevailing Unbelief in the Church 101 

those that are good, traitors, heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures 
more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but denying the 
power thereof : from such turn away." 2 Tim. 3 : 1-5. 

Various translations of this passage serve to bring out 
its force. Weymouth has it: 

" Of this be assured : in the last days grievous times will set in. For 
men will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boastful, haughty, profane. 
They will be disobedient to parents, thankless, irreligious, destitute of 
natural affection, unforgiving, slanderers. They will have no self-control, 
but will be brutal, opposed to goodness, treacherous, headstrong, self- 
important. They will love pleasure instead of loving God, and will keep 
up a make-believe of piety, and yet live in defiance of its power. Turn 
away from people of this sort." — The Nev: Testament in Modern Speech. 

Moffatt translates it: 

" Mark this, there are hard times coming in the last days. For men 
will be selfish, fond of money, boastful, haughty, abusive, disobedient to 
their parents, ungrateful, irreverent, callous, relentless, scurrilous, dis- 
solute, and savage; they will hate goodness, they will be treacherous, 
reckless and conceited, preferring pleasure to God — for though they 
keep up a form of religion, they will have nothing to do with it as a 
force. Avoid all such." — The New Testament (a new translation). 

Fenton puts it thus: 

" Know this, however, that in the last days there are impending ter- 
rible times. For men will be lovers of self, avaricious, empty, preten- 
tious, libelous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, senseless; without 
parental affections; implacable, calumniators, profligate, inhuman; with- 
out love of goodness, traitors, reckless, stupid, lovers of pleasure more 
than lovers of God; having an appearance of religion, while denying its 
power: but turn away from these." — The New Testament in Modern 
English. 

Ballantine makes it read : 

" I would have you know this, that in the last days trying times will 
come; for people will be lovers of self, lovers of money, boasters, 
haughty, abusive, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, profane, without 
family affection, relentless, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, haters 
of good, treacherous, reckless, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than 
lovers of God. They will have a form of religion, but will cast off its 
power. Avoid such people." — The Riverside New Testament. 

And Goodspeed has this : 

" Understand this, that in the last days there are going to be hard 
times. People will be selfish, avaricious, boastful, arrogant, abusive, un- 
dutiful, ungrateful, irreverent, unfeeling, irreconcilable, slanderous, with 
no self-control, brutal, with no love for what is good, treacherous, reckless, 
conceited, caring more for pleasure than for God, keeping up the forms 
of religion, but resisting its influence. Avoid such people." — Th* New 
Testament (an American translation). 



102 Twelve Great Signs 

Formalism and Hypocrisy in the Church 

What a catalogue of evil is here! And we are not told 
to surmise this, or to suppose it; we are told to "know " it, 
to " be assured " of it, to " mark " it, to " understand " it. 
So we do not need to guess about it. Such a condition is 
definitely foretold. 

And all these evils are to manifest themselves among 
church members, professed Christians. They have " a form 
of godliness," but deny ■" the power thereof;" they "keep 
up a make-believe of piety, and yet live in defiance of its 
power; " they " keep up a form -of religion," yet "will have 
nothing to do with it as a force; " they have " an appearance 
of religion, while denying its power ; " they keep up " the 
forms of religion," but resist its saving influence. 

In fulfilment of these striking words, religion today is 
with many mere philosophic speculation upon truth connected 
with man's soul. With others it is the performance of relative 
duties. With others it consists in admiration of the Bible 
as a book of literary excellence. With others it is the adop- 
tion of a creed or connection with a church. With others 
it consists in bustle and external zeal in good works. In 
nearly all it lacks LIFE — that profound, intense, glowing 
life which so marked it in earlier times. And therefore it 
lacks simplicity, freshness. It is hollow and shallow. 

Easy-minded, Second-rate, Hollow, Feeble, Uncertain Religion 

The religion of the day is an easy-minded religion, with- 
out conflict and wrestling, without self-denial and sacrifice. 
It is a second-rate religion, in which there is little grandeur, 
little noble-mindedness, little elevation, little self-devotedness. 
It is a hollow religion, with a fair exterior, but an aching 
heart — a heart unsatisfied, not at rest, and with a conscience 
not at peace with God. It is a feeble religion, lacking the 
sinews and bones of hardier times — very different from the 
indomitable, fearless, much-enduring, storm-braving religion 
of apostolic and Reformation days. It is an uncertain reli- 
gion; that is, it is not rooted in certainty and assurance, 
not the life of a soul assured of pardon. 



The Prevailing Unbelief in the Church 103 

As a result we behold bondage, heaviness, irksomeness, 
in the religion of the day. There is a speaking for God, but 
it is with a faltering tongue. There is a laboring for God, 
but it is with fettered hands. There is a moving in the 
way of His commandments, but it is with a heavy drag upon 
the limbs. It is inefficient and uninfluential. 

The Tide of Vanity and Pride 

All this catalogue of sins foretold by Paul we are to look 
for in " the last days " in the church, under an outer pre- 
tense of religion, in apostate Christianity. And it is here 
these things are found. Amid the splendor of Gothic piles 
and symbolic crosses, altars, and images, these sins prevail. 
The tide of vanity and pride rolls on side by side with tall 
steeples and accompanied by worldly worship. 

In Jesus Christ there is a redemptive energy, a divine, 
eternal power. In Him men become new creatures, a new 
light illuminating their souls, new joys taking possession of 
their hearts, new hopes alluring them into paths of right- 
eousness and peace. To him in whom Christ lives, the world 
becomes empty, void, and vain, and loses its hold on the heart. 
This divine energy which elevates, regenerates, and trans- 
forms men, is today ignored and cast aside by the easy reli- 
gionists of this age. They know nothing of the sacrifices, 
the furnace and flame, through which the Christian believer 
comes forth purged and made white. With such, godliness 
is but a form. 

Denial of Christ and His Deity 

The religionists of today are perfectly at home in the 
externals of religion. They rejoice in pompous worship and 
ecclesiastical ceremonies. But in the inner life of the heart, 
the working of the Holy Spirit, the renewing of the mind, 
the beginning of eternal life in the soul, the new birth, the 
receiving of the Word of God, — in all such matters they 
are ignorant and blind. Their whole religious life is a round 
of forms. It places no restraint on unholy passions and am- 
bitions and desires. All inward grace may be lacking, but 
if the name is on the church roll, with them that fact covers 
a multitude of sins. 



104 Twelve Great Signs 

Preachers and people in large numbers have today de- 
parted " from the faith " " once delivered unto the saints " 
in the matter of accepting the fundamentals of the gospel. 
It is a common thing now for preachers to deny their Lord, 
to deny His pre-existence, His divine incarnation, His deity, 
His miracle-working power, His inspired teaching, His sub- 
stitutionary and expiatory death, His miraculous resurrection, 
His ascension, His mediatory and intercessory priesthood, 
and His literal return. And yet those who deny these his- 
torical essentials of Christianity, still desire to be known as 
" Christians " ! Christianity today, like its divine Author, is 
being wounded in the house of its professed friends. 

This state of things, so strikingly manifest in the reli- 
gious world now, arises directly from the fact that men have 
only " a form of godliness/' and " live in defiance of its 
power/ 7 and " will have nothing to do with it as a force.'' 

External forms they delight in, and cling to as if every- 
thing depended on them. But of the hidden virtues, those 
divine energies whereby God transforms sinners into saints, 
they know nothing. Faith in Christ may wane, the life may 
be defective, inner spiritual vitality may be lacking; but if 
the forms are right, if the professions are regular, if the social 
standing is good, they are accepted. Justice, judgment, and 
the fear of God — the weightier matters — may be neglected, 
and covetous idolaters and worldlings stand in full fellow- 
ship in the church. 

" Turn Away From These " 

And in this time, so marked by hypocrisy and formalism, 
and by departure from the faith, God has a word for His 
loyal, true-hearted, sincere, faithful people. They are in the 
midst of this apostasy, surrounded by the faithless, hearing 
the trumpet given an uncertain sound, and are likely to be 
confused. To them the apostolic injunction comes (as va- 
riously rendered into English), " From such turn away," 
" turn away from people of this sort/' " avoid all such/' " turn 
away from these," " avoid such people." 

To this counsel let us give heed. While we note the in- 
creasing apostasy in the churches, while we mark the perils 



The Prevailing Unbelief in the Church 



105 



of our times, and learn from them that we are in " the last 
days," .let us keep ourselves pure. Let our feet be planted 
on the Word of God. Let our ears hear only the voice of 
the great Shepherd. Follow Him alone. " Turn away " 
from the formal and godless, the faithless and unbelieving, 
and turn to the oracles of God; turn where perchance only 




THE FRIEND OF SINNERS 
KNOCKING AT THE DOOR 



" If any man hear My voice, and open the 
door, I will come in to him, and will sup 
with him, and he with Me." Rev. 3:20. 



a few are met together in the name of Christ, but to whom 
the Lord says, " There am I in the midst/' 

It matters not how few these may be, if Christ is with 
them. It matters not how despised and humble they be, if 
the great Immanuel honors them with His presence. It mat- 
ters not if they meet in lowly places, yea, even in the dens 
and caves of the earth, if only the Lord is among them, for 
with Him is light and life and joy and abiding peace. 

Dark as is the picture painted; forbidding and disheart- 
ening as is the fact of widespread apostasy from true reli- 
gion, remember that it is one of the signs that our Lord is 
coming soon to take to Himself His redeemed and waiting 
people. 




CHINESE IN SHANGHAI, CHINA, PRINTING THE GOSPEL 
IN THEIR OWN LANGUAGE 




108 



A TECHNICAL SCHOOL IN BURMA 




NATIVE CHRISTIANS AND THEIR TEMPORARY CHURCH 
IN LUZON, PHILIPPINE ISLANDS 



THE TWELFTH SIGN — THE GOSPEL TO 

ALL NATIONS 



The greatest sign of all, the most certain sign of the 
second coming of Christ in the immediate future, has been 
left to be discussed last. 

This is the announcement, the proclamation, of His com- 
ing to all the world and in every part of the globe, to warn 
the inhabitants of the earth and prepare them for His return. 

Such an announcement is' a subject of prophecy. Such 
a proclamation w T ill fulfil prophecy. Such a message will 
constitute the surest sign of the nearness of the return of 
our Lord. 

In describing to His disciples on the Mount of Olives 

the signs of His second coming, Jesus said : 

" This gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for 
a witness unto all nations ; and then shall the end come." Matt. 24 : 14. 

Weymouth translates this passage : 

" This good news of the kingdom shall be proclaimed throughout the 
whole world to set the evidence before all the Gentiles; and then the 
end will come." — The New Testament in Modern Speech. 

107 



108 Twelve Great Signs 

Agreeing with this is the prophecy found in the fourteenth 
chapter of Revelation. Here is a great threefold message. 
This message is the closing proclamation of the gospel, to be 
delivered to the world just before the return of Jesus; for 
just as soon as it is given, the prophet sees the Lord's second 
coming, and describes it as follows: 

" I looked, and behold a white cloud, and upon the cloud one sat 
like unto the Son of man, having on His head a golden crown, and in 
His hand a sharp sickle. And another angel came out of the temple, 
crying with a loud voice to Him that sat on the cloud, Thrust in Thy 
sickle and reap: for the time is come for Thee to reap; for the harvest 
of the earth is ripe." Rev. 14: 14, 15. 

The Last Message of the Gospel 

This last message of the gospel is to be preached in and 

to all the earth. The prophet thus speaks of it : 

" I saw another angel fly in the midst of heaven, having the ever- 
lasting gospel to preach unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every 
nation, and kindred, and tongue, and people." Rev. 14: 6. 

Before the Lord comes the second time, then, there will 
be an announcement made to all the earth regarding His 
coming. Summed up in this announcement there will be the 
very fulness of the gospel of Christ. It will be the " ever- 
lasting gospel." At the same time it will be the "gospel 
of the kingdom." 

In fulfilment of this prophecy there has been, during the 
last century, such an opening of doors as has never before 
been witnessed in the history of the church. 

Preparations for this advancement of the gospel began 
with the Protestant Reformation. Describing these especially 
as making possible the achievements of the nineteenth cen- 
tury, Arthur T. Pierson says : 

" The preparations for missions in our . day have long been in prog- 
ress. Such a work could scarce be a blessing to the world while as yet 
the church was unblest. Five centuries ago, what preparations were 
needful! The church could scarcely have evangelistic zeal without evan- 
gelical faith. Under the rubbish of ritualism and rationalism, the pre- 
cious treasure of primitive truth had been buried for hundreds of years. 
The church was deformed, and must be reformed; and God raised up, 
with a strange simultaneousness, at great strategic centers in the Con- 
tinent of Europe and the British Isles, as well as in America, a great 
band of reformers: John IIuss in Bohemia, Luther in Grermany, John 



The Gospel to All Nations 109 

Calvin in Switzerland, Savonarola in Italy, John de Wycliffe, John Bun- 
yan, John Wesley in England, John Knox in Scotland, Jonathan Ed- 
wards in America — these are a few of the men who, from 1320 to 1757, 
were raised up by God to go before and prepare the way for modern 
missions. Within these four centuries the greatest body of reformers 
ever on earth stirred the church to new piety and activity. 

u Within the same period, various other forces fell into line, for the 
same purpose. The fall of Constantinople in 1453, dispersing Greek 
scholars with their Greek Testaments through Southern Europe, paved 
the way for new translation and wider diffusion of the Scriptures. To 
this period also belong the most remarkable inventions of history, and 
these so singularly fitted to promote missions that the ' Theology of 
Inventions ' alone expresses their obvious relation to the will of God. 
Was it any chance that, almost simultaneously with the period of the 
Reformers and the revival of learning, gave to the world the mariner's 
compass, the printing press, steam as a motive power, and paper as a 
cheap substitute for parchment and papyrus? The mariner's compass 
and steam solved the problem of world-wide navigation and transpor- 
tation; the printing press and paper solved the other problem of wide 
diffusion of the Word of God, and so the great preparations were well- 
nigh complete: the Reformed Church, with evangelical truth as her 
weapon, and with new facilities for sending forth laborers ; and the Word 
of God, loosed from its bonds, ready for translation into all tongues 
and dissemination among all peoples." — " The Modern Mission Century" 
gages 15, 16. 

Dazzling Marvels of History 

The developments which have opened doors everywhere 
for the gospel to enter, and the means by which the gospel 
can be rapidly carried everywhere, are thus discussed by 
the same writer: 

" The fact is, men now live amidst marvels of history that so dazzle 
by their frequency and glory, that there is no little danger of being but 
half awake to the movements of God's providence, and, so, of losing the 
chance of the ages. The ancients boasted of their seven wonders of the 
world, such as the Colossus at Rhodes, the temple of Diana at Ephesus, 
the sepulcher of Mausolus, and the statue of Jupiter Olympus; but as 
Joseph Cook suggests, there are at least seven modern wonders that far 
surpass thern. They deserve to be called wonders, for they are absolutely 
unique and unprecedented, and they all indicate a supernatural hand at 
the helm of affairs, guiding the world in its development. They are 
wonders of the world, for they are all cosmopolitan, having to do with 
the whole globe and the race of man. The seven wonders we refer to 
are : Exploration, communication, civilization, assimilation, emancipation, 
education, and organization; all world-wide, and all the product of the 
last fifty years. They belong to the nineteenth century, and have been 
the possession of nc 4 other. 

" The God who governs this world, ordained that such stupendous 
wonders should all characterize this missionary century. The command 
of our Lord rings out through the centuries, ' Go into the world, and 
preach the gospel to every creature/ Is it of no importance and has it 



110 Twelve Great Signs 

no significance, that, at last, we know the whole world — the field we are 
bidden to sow with the seed of the kingdom! that we have such facilities 
for reaching every nation that no peoples are any longer afar off? that 
civilization is so widespread that barbarism scarcely anywhere survives? 
... that there remains no nation of any standing that openly encourages 
human slavery? that every grand preparation, of steam, electricity, print- 
ing press, postal union, common schools, etc., has been given to us for 
doing world-wide work? and that, for the first time in history, the race 
has so learned the value of organized effort, as that men are throughout 
the world combining to do what no one man alone could accomplish? 

" One very remarkable feature of this day of God deserves adequate 
description. We might call it acceleration, concentration, condensation; 
but there is no fit word for it. Centuries are practically crowded into 
years, and years into days. Travel is so rapid that what would have 
taken months, one hundred years ago, is now easily accomplished in 
weeks, perhaps in days. We keep in touch, day by day, with the whole 
world, so that, in the morning papers, we read the news from Japan 
and China, India and Africa, as natura^y as from London and Dublin, 
New York and Chicago. So much can be done in a brief space of time 
and over a vast space of territory, that practically time and space are 
annihilated, and nothing seems any longer impossible to human achieve- 
ment. The last fifty years have brought to the race an absolutely new 
era and epoch, abundant illustrations of which it would be easy to 
adduce." — Id., pp. 43, 44. 

A New Era and Epoch 

Thus the Word of God has been printed and disseminated, 
translated into hundreds of languages, and made accessible 
to hundreds of millions. Tracts, papers, and books teaching 
the truths of the gospel have multiplied amazingly, and been 
distributed far and wide. Missionaries have penetrated into 
all the world. Facilities for rapid transportation have come 
into being. News and information are flying round the 
world at a rate never dreamed of before. Missionary organ- 
izations by the score have been perfected and established, 
and are moved by the determination to lighten all the world 
with the glory of the gospel. And by these means, a ful- 
filment of God's Word, the gospel is being " preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations." 

This Gospel of the Kingdom 

It was not, however, the gospel in its ordinary setting and 
in merely its general phases, that was to be preached in all 
the world. It was " this gospel of the kingdom. " 

While the spread of the gospel into all the world has, 
therefore, a decided bearing on the fulfilment of this pre- 



The Gospel to All Nations 111 

dieted sign, it does not cover all that is involved. The sign 
predicted does not point to the world-wide dissemination of 
a partial gospel, or some special phase of the gospel, but to 
the whole gospel in a particular setting, a setting governed 
by the special time of its presentation, the time when the 
long-anticipated kingdom is about to appear. The gospel 
then becomes " this gospel of the kingdom." It is the good 
news about the kingdom, the coming kingdom. It is, indeed, 
the good news about the coming of the King in His kingdom. 

Hence the fulfilment of this prophecy which constitutes 
it a sign of the Lord's return is the extension unto all the 
world of the gospel of Christ in the particular setting of the 
announcement of Christ's return. The gospel will then be 
a world-wide warning and proclamation of His coming. And 
it is this proclamation and warning, " this gospel of the 
kingdom," which is to be " preached in all the world for a 
witness unto all nations," just before the end. 

This is consistent with all the former dealings of God 
with the people of this world. Before the destruction of the 
world by the flood, He sent Noah to give the message of the 
coming deluge and point out the way of escape. Before 
the fall of Sodom and Gomorrah, He sent His angels to 
warn the inhabitants and guide Lot to safety. Before the 
impending destruction of Nineveh, He sent Jonah to sound 
the proclamation of approaching doom. Before Jerusalem 
fell the first time, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and others an- 
nounced its fate. Before it fell the second time, Jesus and 
His disciples foretold its destruction. 

A Message of Salvation 

Always in connection with' these visitations of judgment 
the way of escape was pointed out as well as the impending 
destruction announced. These, therefore, were messages of 
salvation, which, if heeded and followed, would have brought 
deliverance. Always there were a few, a handful, a rem- 
nant, who heeded the message, and were saved because of 
heeding it. Always the great mass of those who heard it 
turned away from it, refused to follow it, rejected it, and 
were overwhelmed in the ensuing destruction. 



112 Twelve Great Signs 

So is " this gospel of the kingdom." It is a warning of 
coming judgment. At the same time it is the announce- 
ment of the coming of the kingdom. It is the truth for 
this time. In it is not only information regarding the " time 
of the end," but it points the way of salvation from the de- 
struction which is coming. It is a saving message as well 
as a warning message. 

And it is this message which is to be " preached in all 
the world for a witness unto all nations," — the announce- 
ment of the coming of the Lord. 

This great sign is now being displayed before our eyes. 
This message of the Lord's second coming is being taken to 
all the world. 

A Divinely Commissioned People 

Consider what is necessarily involved in the fulfilment 
of this prophecy. Before such a message can be taken to ail 
the world, a people commissioned to do this must be raised 
up. They must be brought under profound conviction that 
they are instruments of God to do this very work. They 
must set about the doing of it in a way which God can use 
to accomplish the results He has predicted. 

This involves the bringing into existence of a movement 
with a definite body of teaching and belief. Connected with 
this movement there must be created agencies and means 
and equipment especially fashioned to accomplish the design 
of God. 

This would mean the appointment of a ministry teaching 
and preaching the same truths in the same setting all round 
the world, speaking the same things everywhere. This can- 
not be done without a special- training for such a ministry 
and its associated helpers. Training schools giving this edu- 
cation and preparation will therefore be an essential part of 
this movement. Such training schools must be located at 
widely separated places, and must conduct their work in 
many languages, if all the world is to be reached. 

Indispensable to such a movement will be the " silent 
preacher," the gospel in type, the printed message. Con- 
nected, therefore, with this movement will appear publish- 




THE WORLD'S HARVEST TIME 



** Lift up your eyes, and look on 
the fields ; for they are white 
already to harvest." John .4:35. 




THE GOSPEL COMMISSION 



" Go ye into all the world, and 
preach the gospel to every 
creature." Mark 16:15. 

113 



114 Twelve Great Signs 

ing houses in many lands, printing " this gospel of the king- 
dom " in many tongues, and distributing their publications 
by evangelistic colporteurs everywhere. 

A World-wide Mission Movement 

Such a movement will send out missionaries, establish 
mission stations, conduct mission schools, organize a world- 
wide mission movement. This mission movement must be 
supported. A great financial, never-ending, and always- 
enlarging campaign for missions by which those who are 
connected with the movement are enabled to carry out their 
divine commission, will be an essential factor in this pro- 
gram. 

We are to look, then, for a religious movement with 
churches, schools, publishing houses, a world-wide organiza- 
tion, backed by a people convinced that they are divinely 
commissioned to carry to all the world the proclamation of 
the second coming of Christ. 

Does such a movement, such a people, such an organiza- 
tion exist? Is the sign being fulfilled? 

Profoundly convinced that they are commissioned of God 
to do this very work, there is a people who have established 
just such a movement, with just such an organization, with 
a world-wide mission program, with schools and publishing 
houses, with missionaries everywhere, and with a supporting 
financial campaign to carry the work forward to completion. 

More important than the movement and the people, is 
the fact that through these means God is warning the world 
of the near return of His Son, and sending this message 
" unto them that dwell on the earth, and to every nation, 
and kindred, and tongue, and people." Rev. 14 .* 6. 

The Marvel of Missions 

For this message of the Lord's return is being heralded 
everywhere. Round all the circle of the earth, over all the 
seven seas, missionaries, ministers, colporteurs, and gospel 
workers have penetrated, bearing this special message of the 
coming of Christ. "Within a single generation this movement 
has come into existence and widened out to encompass the 



The Gospel to All Nations 115 

world. It is the marvel of missions. It is the march of 
God. It is the way of the Lord. It is the heralding of the 
coming King. It is "this gospel of the kingdom." It is 
the finishing of the work of human salvation. It is the last 
gospel message. And it is the greatest and most certain 
sign of the soon coming of the Saviour. 

Let it be noticed that " this gospel of the kingdom " is 
to be preached " for a witness unto," not for the conversion 
of, the nations. It will not be generally accepted, even by 
professed Christians. It will not be popular. No special 
message of this character ever has been popular. It will be 
preached, as Weymouth translates it, " to set the evidence 
before " the world. It will present all the evidence of the 
Lord's coming, all the signs and the fulfilment of the proph- 
ecies. But the evidence will not be generally accepted. It 
will gather a few here and there of devoted believers, who 
will join their efforts to those of like faith, and press on 
with the message. And these God will bless to such an ex- 
tent that, through His power and grace, they will be able 
to warn all the world before " the end " comes. 

To be among them, knowing the times in which we live, 
knowing the commission of God in view of these times, 
charged with a great mission from heaven, clothed with God's 
own spirit of power in service, surrendered altogether to do 
His will, sharing in the work of finishing the gospel on 
earth, co-operating with God in the work of human salva- 
tion, preparing to meet the Saviour Himself, and " bring- 
ing back the King," — ah, that is the loftiest privilege ever 
granted to the children of men in any age of the world. 
And the rapid progress of that work is the crowning sign 
that the coming of the Lord " is near, even at the door." 




CHRIST COMING IN GLORY 



116 



" Unto them that look for Him shall He 
appear the second time without sin 
unto salvation." Heb. 9:28. 




EDEN TO EDEN BY WAY 
OF THE CROSS 



The wages of sin is death : but the 
gift of God is eternal life through 
Jesus Christ our Lord." Rom. 6 : 23. 



AWAITING THE BLESSED HOPE OF HIS 
GLORIOUS APPEARING 



We have reached a crisis. We are witnessing the close 
of a long series of experiments made by man in an attempt 
to improve and save himself. And man has failed. 

The world is more wicked and lawless than ever since 
the deluge. Peace has not spread her reign among the na- 
tions. Misrule has not departed. Righteousness does not sit 
on the throne of the nations. Holiness does not beautify the 
homes of men. Man's merchandise is not consecrated to God. 
Man's wealth is not laid at the feet of Jesus. The human 
heart remains still deceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked. Oppression, cruelty, selfishness, lust, strife, dissen- 
sion, hatred, and murder are still uneradicated, unsubdued, 
unmitigated. Man has found no cure for these maladies. 
They rage on, and he is powerless. 

The curse still pervades the earth and poisons the air. 
-Man cannot disinfect it. The thorn and thistle still remind 
us of the primal sin. Mau cannot uproot them. Disease' still 

117 



118 Twelve Great Signs 

haunts the body. Man cannot drive it out. Death still smites 
its daily myriads. Man tries in vain to disarm it. The grave 
still receives our loved, and preys upon the beautiful. And 
man pleads in vain that it should give back the joy of his 
heart and the desire of his eyes. 

The Fruits of Adam's Sin 

Such are the fruits of Adam's sin, and such the power- 
lessness of his children to remove so much as one of the ten 
thousand evils. It is demonstrated that man can ruin, but 
not restore, a world. He has made attempts at restoration, 
but sadly and miserably failed. He has made attempts at 
progress, but they have been abortive. Progress in evil, prog- 
ress in alienation from God, — these are the features of great- 
est prominence in his history. 

But this progress in evil has a limit. God has set bounds 
to it that He will not allow man to pass. He will not per- 
mit this earth of His to become altogether a hell. He will 
make the wrath of man to praise Him, and the remainder 
thereof He will restrain. He will allow a certain amount 
and for a certain duration, but no more. Neither of these 
is indefinite. We are nearing their boundaries. 

The Crowning Hope 

And this is well. It is time the good displaced the evil, 
and the blessing the curse. The second Adam is at hand, 
and with Him, the kingdom and the glory. He brings the 
cure. He knits the broken world. He rebukes disease and 
sorrow. He binds death. He rifles the grave. He delivers 
creation. He establishes a peaceful, righteous throne. He 
brings in an ever-widening knowledge, an ever-brightening 
glory. The dishonored past shall not be remembered nor 
come into mind. 

There are many who love Jesus so much that they would 
like to see Him. These are pleased at the thought of His 
soon coming. They are designated as those " that love His 
appearing." They have in their hearts this crowning hope. 
All their expectation of future good hangs on this. And 
the very thought that He will soon come has its effect upon 
them now. 



Awaiting the Hope of His Appearing 119 

This effect could be nothing but beneficial. It is a good 
hope. It must, therefore, bring about good results. If they 
were looking for an evil thing, and their minds were will- 
ingly and constantly dwelling upon the evil, it could do 
nothing but bring about evil results. But this hope is high 
and holy and noble. It must, therefore, bring about cor- 
responding results. 

Indeed, there is no more mighty motive for good that God 
has placed before the minds of His saints, both to impress 
their own hearts and to influence those about them, than 
this. It is pre-eminent in the power of its influence. Next to 
the inward working of God's Spirit it is the controlling force 
in the system of divine revelation. Nothing else can be com- 
pared to it. 

The Meeting Place of X wo Eternities 

It affects alike the destinies of the living and the dead. 
For awful weight, solemn majesty, impressive influence, and 
awakening power, not even the shortness of life, the solemni- 
ties of death, the fear of hell, or the hope of glory, can equal 
the great fact that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the cruci- 
fied Saviour and glorified High Priest, the humbled and ex- 
alted Redeemer, shall soon come again in the glory of His 
Father to judge the world. 

This great event marks the meeting place of two eterni- 
ties. It brings the crisis in the history of the planet and 
the race. It strikes the hour which bears the burden of im- 
mortal destinies. It closes up the present dispensation of 
mercy to the world. It opens to our view the scenes of glory 
which shall endure throughout the ages of the ages. 

The effect of this hope on the one who believes it is good. 
It has a tendency to cause people to become purer. Only 
holy men and women will be able to stand in that day. And 
so " every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, 
even as He is pure." 1 John 3 : 3. 

A Purifying Hope 

Paul wrote to Titus regarding the effect of this " blessed 
hope " on the believer's life, saying : 




ADAM'S DESCENDANTS WORSHIPING 

AT THE GATE OF THEIR 

LOST EDEN HOME 

120 



* Thou, O : Tower of the flock, the 
stronghold of the daughter of Zion, 
unto Thee shall it come, even the 
first dominion/* Micah 4:8. 



Awaiting the Hope of His Appearing 121 

* " Teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should 
live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; looking for 
that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our 
Saviour Jesus Christ; who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem 
us from all iniquity, and purify unto Himself a peculiar people, zealous 
of good works." Titus 2 : 12-14. 

It is in view of our Lord's return that Paul urges the 

need of brotherly love and unblamable holiness : 

" The Lord make you to increase and abound in love one toward 
another, and toward all men, even as w T e do toward you: to the end He 
may stablish your hearts unblamable in holiness before God, even our 
Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all His saints." 
1 Thess. 3 : 12, 13. 

Belief of this great truth and the cherishing of this lofty 
hope result in precious blessings to the believer. Among 
these blessings, seven stand out prominently: 

The Effect of the Glorious Hope 

It leads to an enlarged study of the Word of God. Let 
the mind and heart become convinced of the Lord's return, 
and the mind becomes at once interested in all the subjects 
of the Bible. The writings of the prophets become of special 
interest. Scripture is compared with scripture, and a flood 
of light is poured upon the sacred page. Object after object 
of interest is disclosed. Those portions of the Scriptures 
which before excited no emotion, now call forth the deepest 
feeling. 

It draws away from the love of the world. We may have 
had our imaginations captivated by the lovely things about 
us. Our fond hearts may have been too deeply pledged to 
earthly joys. But when we learn that " the earth -and the 
works that are therein shall be burned up," who, then, will 
continue to seek after the world's wealth, its silver and its 
gold? Who will be covetous when he believes the Lord Jesus 
is at hand to destroy the worthless treasure of earth? Who 
will be self-indulgent when he expects the immediate return 
of his Lord? Who will be dazzled by the world's low ambi- 
tion and paltry splendor when he is seeking the speedy con- 
ferment of the crown of glory? 

There is that in the Saviour's speedy coming which dries 
up the springs of worldliness, mortifies the schemes of earthly 



122 Twelve Great Signs 

ambition, makes the joys of the world to pall on the senses, 
and leaves no glory here by reason of the glory that excelleth. 

It reproves timidity and want of earnestness. Expecting 
to see the vials of wrath poured out on a godless world, who 
will be afraid to confess his Lord? Who can continue cold 
or lukewarm when he expects soon to see the saints of God 
caught up to meet their Lord? The sense of the nearness of 
these awe-inspiring events steels the heart to endure, and 
nerves the hand to achieve. It elevates the mind, gives bold- 
ness to the heart, creates promptness in design, produces 
firmness in action. It causes disregard of the promptings of 
self-interest, and makes a man careful only to be found in 
that day a firm and consistent follower of the Lord Jesus. 

It arouses one to the need of assurance. Who can rest in 
uncertainty as to his acceptance with God when he believes 
the Lord will presently separate the saints from the apos- 
tates, and destroy the sinners? Such a consideration creates 
a profound desire for a personal interest in Christ, an assur- 
ance that we are His. It is impossible to desire the coming 
of our God unless we are fully reconciled to God. Thus the 
soul is stirred to more earnest prayer, and is thus led to a 
close communion with the Divine Being. 

Strong Consolation 

It gives consolation and comfort in trouble. Some one 
dearly loved has been taken away, some one who was the 
light of our eyes. We are left to lament our bereavement in 
loneliness and darkness. But light breaks in on our deso- 
lation : 

" This we say unto you by the word of the Lord, That we that are 
alive, and are left unto the coming of the Lord, shall in no wise pre- 
cede them that are fallen asleep. For the Lord Himself shall descend 
from heaven, with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with 
the trump of God : and the dead in Christ shall rise first ; then we that 
are alive, that are left, shall together with them be caught up in the 
clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the 
Lord." 1 Thess. 4: 15-18, A. R. V. 

And, 0, blessed thought, His coming is near. Then soon 
shall we be restored to the society of those we have loved. 
Soon we shall see — and recognize — the saints of earth aris- 
ing from their graves. And then, with unutterable surprise 



Awaiting the Hope of His Appearing 123 

and profound joy, we " shall together with them be caught 
up in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air." Here, in- 
deed, is strong consolation. The near prospect of glory cheers 
the heart, depressed with trouble and gloom as it may have 
been. The darkness of the present is dissipated by the bright 
realities of the future. 

Do floods of tribulation overwhelm you? Does the fear 
of death lay hold of you? Do the sorrows of this vale of tears 
encompass you? Is the hour of darkness with you? Do the 
workings of the tempter make you afraid? "Behold, thy 
salvation cometh." Lift up your head, for your redemption 
is drawing near. The Lord, your strength and deliverer, is 
at hand, even at the doors. Then brood no more over the 
sorrows of this life. Brightness is about to shine all along 
your pathway. Your sorrow is about to be turned into joy. 
And you shall " rejoice in hope of the glory of God." 

It provides the greatest of all incentives to Christian work 
and service. In proportion as we believe that " the coming 
of the Lord draweth nigh," every nerve will be strained for 
exertion, every energy put forth, every moment employed, 
every talent turned to the best advantage. An intense longing 
for the salvation of the souls of others will be aroused. Mis- 
sions, both home and foreign, will be whole-heartedly advo- 
cated and loyally supported, that men may be saved from 
impending judgments, and that we may finish God's work, 
and that the end may come. No more powerful motive for 
service can be imagined. How strong it is, how pressing, how 
abiding ! 

Lastly, it leads to earnest watchfulness. Believing that 
our Lord is at hand, there Qan be no thought of slumber or 
inattention. The thoughtful and considerate follower of 
Christ, having the sure word of prophecy whereunto he takes 
heed, walks circumspectly. His mind is dwelling on the 
Lord's coming in glory, the resurrection of the righteous 
dead, the glorification of the saints, the dismay of the back- 
slidden church, the tremendous overthrow of the ungodly 
world. To him these are daily and familiar thoughts, filling 
his imagination and deeply affecting his heart. Therefore, 



Awaiting the Hope of His Appearing 125 

he is watchful. Satan and the world he keeps at bay. The 
desires of the flesh and of the mind he successfully combats 
in the strength of his Lord. Continually thrilling in his ears 
and echoing in his heart is the word, " The Lord is at hand." 
So he is sober, alert, watching unto prayer, with his loins 
girt and his light burning, even like a man who waits and 
watches for his Lord. 

O Blessed Day! 

blessed day! matchless Christ! What happiness of 
heart to be near Thee! What fulness of rapture! How ex- 
ceeding abundantly above all that we asked or thought ! 

To be with Jesus! 0, soul-stirring thought! To be near 
His person and enjoy His society ! The glorious Christ, the 
Holy One of Israel, the eternal Son of God; and we looking 
upon Him, being with Him! What completion of happi- 
ness! Truly, in His presence is fulness of joy, and at His 
right hand are pleasures forevermore. Greater than the 
great ones of earth is He. Infinitely higher than the most 
exalted of earthly kings. And He bids me welcome! He 
.smiles upon me! He showers me with His favors! 

And the meeting of long-separated friends! How the 

heart leaps forward to that meeting, when our loved ones 

shall be clasped in our arms again ! " Our God shall come, 

and shall not keep silence." Ps. 50:3. And one thing He 

says is this : 

" Gather My saints together unto Me." " And then shall He send 
His angels, and shall gather together His elect from the four winds, 
from the uttermost part of the earth to the uttermost part of heaven/' 
Ps. 50 : 5 ; Mark 13 : 27. 

How many sad partings this world has witnessed ! Cruel, 

indeed, is the separation of death. Terrible is the havoc the 

destroyer has wrought. Families have been divided, friends 

have been sundered, lovers have been torn apart. How 

precious, then, is the promise of God : 

" I will bring thy seed from the east, and gather thee from the west ; 
I will say to the north, Give up; and to the south, Keep not back: 
bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth; 
even every one that is called by My name." Isa. 43 : 5-7. 

" They shnH come from the east, and from the west, and from the 
north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." 
Luke 13: 29. 




" PEACE BE UNTO YOU " 



126 



"Lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the 
world." Matt. 28:20. 



Awaiting the Hope of His Appearing 127 

That Morn of Morns 

And so we look forward to that morn of morns when 
once again the Lord Jesus shall visit the earth. We strain 
to catch the first sound of His voice, that voice which will 
reverberate from hillside and mountain top, echo through 
the silent valleys, sweep across the wide and treeless plains, 
and pierce even to the remote caves of old ocean. We wait 
to see that voice, as it rolls through the earth, strike the 
shackles from grim death, break open the tombs of the saints, 
and pierce even to their dead ears. We yearn to behold the 
sleeping ones, awakened by that commanding voice, feeling 
the thrill of life once more, raise their heads from their moldy 
pillows, rise from the cold and chilling turf with a shout of 
rapture, toss aside the coverlid of dust, and spring joyfully 
into glorious life again. 

A vast congregation they make as the redeemed gather 
to greet their Redeemer, coming from east and west, north 
and south, from height and depth, from land and sea, from 
torrid and frigid zones, to answer the call of the Master. 
They come in tremendous troops, guided by angels, and 
sweeping upward together, take their stand on the glorious 
sea of glass before the great white throne of God. 

And then, after a time, back to this earth again, made 
new and clean and sweet, they come. And on this regen- 
erated earth, with the curse removed, and under the new 
heavens clear and bright, all the righteous, with their blessed 
King and Redeemer, shall make their eternal home. 

Wave After Wave of Splendor 

Far out over the plains of the new earth will flash wave 
after wave of glory. Fulfilled is the oath of God, " As truly 
as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the 
Lord." Num. 14 : 21. No freezing cold. No burning heat. 
No gloomy clouds. No darkness of night. No wasting sick- 
ness. No cruel pain. No tears. No death. No graveyards. 
No temptations. No sin. No partings. Only waving of 
palms. Only victory. Only praise, rest, and glory, now and 
evermore, world without end. 



128 Twelve Great Signs 

morning of splendor, awake, and bring the promised 
deliverance! Surely, "the sufferings of this present time 
are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall 
be revealed." Rom. 8 : 18, 



THE COMING OF HIS FEET 

In the crimson of the morning, in the whiteness of the noon, 

In the amber glory of the day's retreat, 
In the midnight, robed in darkness, or the gleaming of the moon ; 

I listen for the coming of His feet. 

I heard His weary footsteps on the sands of Galilee, 
On the temple's marble pavement, on the street, 

Worn with weight of sorrow, faltering up the slopes of Calvary, 
The sorrow of the coming of His feet. 

Down the minster-aisles of splendor, from betwixt the cherubim, 
Through the wondering throng, with motion strong and fleet, 

Sounds His victor tread, approaching with a music far and dim - 
The music of the coming of His feet. 

Sandaled not with sheen of silver, girded not with woven gold, 
Weighted not with shimmering gems and odors sweet, 

But white-winged and shod with glory in the Taborlight of old — 
The glory of the coming of His feet. 

He is coming, O my spirit! with His everlasting peace, 
With His blessedness immortal and complete, 

He is coming, O my spirit! and His coming brings release, 
I listen for the coming of His feet. 

— A nonymous. 



The Great Controversy 

Between Christ and Satan 

By Mrs. E. G. White 

This volume presents the most wonderful and 
intensely interesting history that has ever 
been written of the great conflict between 
Christianity and the powers of darkness, as 
illustrated in the lives of Christian martyrs 
and reformers on the one hand, and wicked 
men and persecuting powers on the other. 

From the time of the destruction of the 
Jewish temple and city by the Romans' and 
the scattering of the Jewish people through- 
out the world, down to the time of the final 
battle between truth and error, and the signs 
that show that the coming of Christ and the 
end of all things is at hand, this book carries 
the reader. The appeal is irresistible, the con- 
clusion definite. Undiscovered Bible truths 
stand out in all their brightness in contrast 
to the darkness enshadowing their fulfilment. 

700 pages, cloth binding, beautifully illus- 
trated. Price, $5.50. 

REVIEW AND HERALD PUBLISHING 

ASSOCIATION 

Takoma Park, Washington, D. C. 

Trices higher in Canada 






£ 




DISTRIBUTION OF THE SCRIPTURES 

The whole Bible has been printed in 159 languages, 
the New Testament in 142 more, and portions consisting 
of at least one book in 422 more, a total of 733 languages 
and dialects. 

The British and Foreign Bible Society has been the 
chief producer, the American Bible Society being next. 
According to a report of its work for the first one hun- 
dred years, ending in 1904, the British and Foreign Bi- 
ble Society, during the first fifty years of its existence, 
issued each year on an average 559,000 copies of the 
Scriptures complete or in parts. During the next fifteen 
years the annual average rose to 1,950,000 copies. Dur- 
ing the last six years of the century the average was 
5,190,000 copies annually. 

At the end of the first twenty-five years, the society 
sent out, on an average, one volume in every seventy 
seconds; at the end of fifty years, one volume in every 
twenty-three seconds; at the end of seventy-five years, one 
volume in nine seconds; and at the end of a hundred 
years, one volume in every five seconds. 

How striking is the fulfilment of Daniel 12: 4, that in 
" the time of the end " knowledge of the Scriptures should 
" be increased " ! 



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